Wrestling Federation of India demands action against Vinesh Phogat’s support staff

WFI President demands action against Vinesh Phogat's support staff after her disqualification at Paris Olympics.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Sanjay Singh on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) 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,” he said. I request the Government of India to take action against all those responsible,” he added.