Former India captain and the legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar has come out in support of Indian wrester Vinesh Phogat following her disqualification from the women's 50kg gold medal match at the Paris Olympics 2024.
On Wednesday, India suffered a massive setback as Vinesh Phogat was shockingly disqualified from competing in the gold medal match against Sarah Hildebrandt of the USA due to overweight issues. The 29-year-old was just 100 grams more than the permissible limit of her weight category.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) filed compliant with the International Olympic Committee against the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat. The wrestler appealed to the Court of Arbitration For Sports (CAS) over her disqualification from the gold medal match, which has been accepted by the body to review the decision.
Ahead of the CAS' hearing of Phogat's appeal, Sachin Tendulkar released a statement on his X handle (formerly Twitter) and wrote that the rules for any sport have to be revisited. He added that Vinesh Phogat was robbed of her silver medal believing that she reached the final 'fair and square.'
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"Time for an Umpire’s Call! Every sport has rules and those rules need to be seen in context, maybe even revisited at times." Former India batting legend wrote.
"Vinesh Phogat qualified fair and square for the finals. Her disqualification by weight, was before the finals, and hence, for her to be robbed of a deserving silver medal defies logic and sporting sense." he added.
Vinesh Phogat kicked off her campaign with a win over reigning Olympic and World no.1 Yui Susaki of Japan in pre-quarters and qualified for the quarterfinals.
It was one of the biggest upsets in the history of wrestling as Vinesh became the wrestler to defeat Susaki at international level. Before facing Indian grappler, Yui Susaki remained unbeaten in 82 international matches.
In the quarterfinals, Vinesh registered 7-5 win over Oksana Livach of Ukraine, which helped her book a berth for the semifinal clash against Yusneylys Guzman, who she defeated 5-0.
'Vinesh beat her opponents fairly to reach the top two': Sachin Tendulkar
Former India batting legend further stated the disqualification is justifiable if a player is found to be breaching the ethics of the game. He added that Vinesh Phogat deserves to win a silver medal as she defeated her opponents 'fairly' in order to make it to her maiden Olympic final in Paris.
"It would have been understandable if an athlete were to have been disqualified for ethical breaches such as the usage of performance enhancing drugs. In that case, to not be awarded any medal and be placed last would be justifiable." Sachin Tendulkar wrote.
"However, Vinesh beat her opponents fairly to reach the top two. She definitely deserves a silver medal. While we all wait for a verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, 1et us hope and pray that Vinesh gets the recognition she deserves.” he added.
Following the disqualification from the Paris Olympics 2024, Vinesh Phogat decided to call her time from wrestling. However, it remains to be seen whether the three-time Olympian takes back her retirement.
