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Indian female wrestler Vinesh Phogat was eliminated from the Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medal match under 50kg today, August 7, after gaining 2kg in one day.
On the morning of August 6, Phogat conducted a pre-competition weigh-in, reaching under 50 kg. Therefore, the 30-year-old female boxer was allowed to compete, and won all three matches against Yui Susaki (Japan), Oksana Livach (Ukraine) and Yusneylys Guzman (Cuba), to enter the final against Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) on the evening of August 7.
That achievement made Phogat the most watched sports figure in India, as the team had only won three bronze medals since the Paris Olympics. Her victory over Susaki was also a surprise, as the Japanese wrestler had won all 82 matches in her career, never losing, but fell to Phogat in the round of 16. She also became the first Indian female wrestler to reach the final of a wrestling event in Olympic history.
But after the match with Guzman, Phogat was weighed and found to be 2kg overweight. Despite the coaching staff doing everything they could to help her lose weight overnight, the Asian Games gold medalist still failed the weigh-in this morning, August 7. According to Indian newspapersIndia Today, Phogat was 0.15 kg overweight.
Tournament rules state that boxers who fail to attend the morning weigh-in, or are overweight, will be disqualified and placed last. The Indian Olympic Committee (IOA) said Phogat was “just a few grams overweight” (1,000 grams is equivalent to 1 kilogram), but was still deemed to have been in violation. Phogat will not be in the final against Hildebrandt, nor will he receive a medal, and will return home in last place.
"Phogat has been disqualified from the women's under-50kg category," the IOA said in a statement. "Despite the team's best efforts to make her weigh in, Phogat was still a few grams over the 50kg limit. We will not be commenting further on this matter and ask that her privacy be respected."
Hildebrandt automatically won the gold medal without having to fight in the final. The other four boxers will compete in two bronze medal matches. The organizers did not award silver medals in this event.
According to sports pageSportskeeda, Phogat was hospitalized today, due to dehydration. One of the ways she lost weight before the test, was not eating or drinking anything, so that could be the reason why she was hospitalized.
Phogat, born in 1994, is the first Indian female athlete to win a gold medal in wrestling at the Asian Games in 2018. In the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympics, she suffered a knee injury and lost. At the Tokyo Olympics, she continued to lose in the quarter-finals. In the past few years, she mainly competed in the 53kg category, but decided to lose weight to compete in the 50kg category at the Paris Olympics.
TH (Synthesis)