The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that athletes must stay under their weight limit and that no exceptions will be made under any circumstances, while rejecting Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against her disqualification from the Paris Olympics final. On August 14, an ad hoc division of the CAS rejected her appeal against a heartbreaking exclusion from the final for being 100gm overweight, eliciting a strong reaction from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). On Monday, the CAS issued a thorough ruling outlining why Vinesh’s appeal was dismissed.
“The problem for the Athlete is that the Rules are clear as to the weight limit and are the same for all participants. There is no tolerance provided for -– it is an upper limit. It does not even allow for the weight of the singlet. It is clearly up to an athlete to ensure that they remain below that limit,” the CAS said.
“There is no dispute that the Applicant was above the weight limit. She gave the above evidence clearly and directly at the hearing. Her case is that the amount of excess was 100g and that a tolerance should apply as this is a small excess and explicable for reasons such as drinking water and water retention, in particular during the pre-menstrual phase.”
The 29-year-old Vinesh was disqualified on the morning of the women’s 50kg freestyle final.
The decision on her appeal was rendered after three postponements.
In her appeal, Vinesh had demanded that she be given a joint silver with Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to her in the semifinals but was promoted to the summit clash following the Indian’s disqualification. The gold was claimed by American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.
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Source: NDTV
