Wrestling Federation of India demands action against support staff attached with Vinesh Phogat : We even cut her hair- India's CMO at Olympics

The Indian contingent woke up to the rude jolt of Vinesh's disqualification, hours before her gold medal bout against American Sarah Hildebrandt

Indian Olympics Association (IOA) President PT Usha meets wrestler Vinesh Phogat after the latter was hospitalised following her disqualification from the Paris Olympics as she was found overweight ahead of her women's 50kg final match, in Paris: PTI

PTI, Paris, 07.08.24 :  The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Sanjay Singh on Wednesday demanded action against the support staff attached with Vinesh Phogat in the wake of her shock exit from the Paris Olympics, saying the blunder of not maintaining her weight before the final was not acceptable.

The Indian contingent woke up to the rude jolt of Vinesh's disqualification, hours before her gold medal bout against American Sarah Hildebrandt.

She was found overweight by 100 grams on day two of the weigh-in and resultantly disqualified.

Cuban wrestler Guzman Lopez Yusnelis, who had lost her semifinal to Vinesh, will now clash in the gold medal match against Hildebrandt.

Vinesh has been training with Woller Akos, her personal coach from Belgium and has also worked with South African mental conditioning coach Wayne Lombard.

“It is not a fault of Vinesh. She was performing amazingly. The coaches, the support staff, the physios and the nutritionists should take full responsibility,” Sanjay Singh told PTI.

“They should have paid attention to her all the time to ensure nothing of this sort happens. How this happened and how she went over the weight limit must be looked into.

“I request the Government of India to take action against all those responsible,” he said.

Vinesh had opted to train with Akos and the government of India had cleared his travel along with Vinesh for the Games.

Akos, like the Indian national coaches, was granted full-access accreditation.

It cannot be denied that Akos has played a key role in reshaping Vinesh's game.

He has been working with the star Indian wrestler since 2018, bringing in technical and tactical changes to her game. Vinesh has won two World Championship bronze medals with him.

That Vinesh was on top of her game was evident when she trumped unbeaten Yui Susaki, employing a strategy of playing a waiting game and executing a match-winning move in the dying moments of the match.

Sitting in Vinesh's corner, Akos was seen crying when she sealed her spot in the final.

The WFI President said the federation will allow only UWW certified coaches to train the Indian wrestlers, going forward.

“The Wrestling Federation of India will try their best to hire coaches who have cleared the level 1 and level two courses of the UWW.

“We will also ensure that the wrestlers practice with the coaches of WFI and officials of the UWW so that such episodes never happen ever again,” he said.

Asked specifically, will WFI allow personal coaches or not, Singh said, the matter will be discussed.

“The entire WFI committee will decide how to move forward with this matter.” Singh said he is holding a meeting with IOA President PT Usha and they will approach UWW chief Nenad Lalovic to see if anything can be done.

“I spoke to the IOA (Indian Olympics Association) and the UWW (United World Wrestling) and I even sent letters, asking them to look into the matter and allow her to compete,” he said.

Later, the Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya made a statement in the Lok Sabha.

Mandaviya said the government had provided a financial assistance of Rs 70 lakh to Vinesh in the build-up to the Games for training and competitions abroad where she travelled with her support staff -- that included Akos, Lombard, Ashwini Jeevan Patil (Physio), Manyank Singh (mental conditioning expert), and Arvind (sparring partner).

They trained in Spain, France and Hungary.

The minister also said in the Tokyo Olympic cycle, she was provided financial assistance of more than Rs 1 crore 13 lakh.

We even cut her hair: India's CMO at Olympics Dr Paridiwala on drastic measures to save Vinesh Phogat

India's Chief Medical Officer at the Paris Olympics, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, on Wednesday revealed that cutting off Vinesh Phogat's hair was among the "drastic measures" taken to help the wrestler stay within the prescribed weight limit for her gold medal bout in the 50kg category.

However, none of it was enough to prevent her disqualification as she was found 100gm overweight at the time of morning weigh-in. She was set to take on USA's Sarah Hildebrandt after three exhausting bouts on Tuesday. "...small amounts of water had to be given to prevent dehydration. Her post participation weight was found to be increased. The coach initiated the normal process of weight cut that he has always employed with Vinesh and felt confident that it would be achieved," Paridiwala said in a statement issued by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

"However, Vinesh was found to be 100 grams over her 50kg weight category, and hence, she was disqualified. All possible drastic measures, including cutting off her hair, were used. However, she was not below her allowed weight of 50kg." Dr Pardiwala said there are several factors involved in losing weight before any competition and the process has its after-effects as well.

"Wrestlers usually participate in a weight category less than their natural weight. It gives them an advantage since they are fighting with less stronger opponents.

"The process of weight cut involves a calculated restriction of food and water along with sweating from exercises and sauna till the morning weigh-in," he explained.

"This weight cut causes weakness and energy depletion, which is counter-productive to participation, and hence, for energy restoration, limited water and high energy foods are given after weigh-in," he said.

Dr Pardiwala said that Vinesh's nutritionist had calculated this intake to add about 1.5kg.

"There sometimes is also a rebound weight gain following competition," he said.

Vinesh was taken to Games Village polyclinic due to dehydration after her disqualification and Dr Pardiwala said she is currently stable and parameters are normal.

"As a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered IV fluids following disqualification to prevent dehydration. We are also getting blood tests performed at the local hospital to ensure that all is well.

"All of Vinesh's parameters were normal throughout this process, and she feels perfectly well," he said.

"Vinesh just interacted with IOA President Dr PT Usha and mentioned that though she is physically and medically perfectly normal, she is disappointed with her disqualification." IOA chief shocked at Vinesh's disqualification.

Indian Olympic Association president PT Usha said she was "shocked and disappointed" by Vinesh's disqualification and that the IOA was following the matter "in the strongest possible manner" after the national federation's appeal to the world body against the verdict.

"I met Vinesh at the Olympic Village Polyclinic a short while ago and assured her of complete support of the Indian Olympic Association, Government of India and the whole country. We are providing Vinesh all medical and emotional support.

"The Wrestling Federation of India has filed an appeal to UWW to reconsider the decision to disqualify Vinesh and IOA is following that up in the strongest possible manner." The IOA chief said despite concerted efforts from all, Vinesh could not meet the competition's weight requirements.

"I am aware of the relentless efforts made by Vinesh, medical team, led by Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala and the Chef-de-Mission Gagan Narang through the night to ensure that she could meet the competition requirements," Usha said.

"The IOA is taking every step to ensure that the morale of the contingent remains high. We are sure all Indians will stand with Vinesh and the entire Indian contingent." Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in her category on Tuesday night. She was assured of at least a silver medal but will now be coming back empty-handed due to the disqualification.