Vinesh appeals against Olympic disqualification in CAS; asks for joint silver

Paris: Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday appealed against her disqualification from the 50kg category Olympic finals in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal after being forced out for being 100gm overweight in the morning weigh-in.

An Indian Olympic Association(IOA) source in the visiting Indian contingent confirmed the development to PTI.

"Yes we got to know about it. It has been done by her team," said the source.

Vinesh was disqualified after being found 100gm overweight during the morning weigh-in.

She had to be taken to a polyclinic at the Games village owing to severe dehydration caused by her desperate measures to make the cut, which included going hungry, avoiding fluids and staying up all night to sweat it out.

An ad-hoc division of the CAS has been set up here for resolution by arbitration of any disputes arising during the Olympic Games or during a period of 10 days preceding the Opening Ceremony.

The matter will be taken up on Thursday morning.

Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinals, has replaced her in the final.

However, the sport's international governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW) has made it known to the IOA that the current weigh-in rule that led to the disqualification of Vinesh cannot be changed as of now.

Any hopes of Vinesh getting a silver medal now hinge on the CAS ruling.

The rules of admission of such cases is very clear. The claimant, before filing such a request, must exhaust "all the internal remedies available to her/him pursuant to the statutes or regulations of the sports body concerned."

The exception being situations where "the time needed to exhaust the internal remedies would make the appeal to the CAS Ad Hoc Division ineffective." 

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 before the disqualification.