PARIS: India’s heartbroken Vinesh Phogat on Thur­sday announced her retirement from wrestling, a day after being disqualified from the women’s 50kg fre­e­style final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday after failing to make weight.

World bronze medallist Phogat, 29, was in the public eye for months last year as part of a long-running protest against the then-chief of Indian wrestling when he was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal.

Phogat, who has won three Commonwealth Games gold medals, had been due to face Sarah Hildebrandt of the United States for the gold medal on Wednesday in Paris but was found to be 100 grams over the 50kg limit.

“Mother wrestling won against me, I lost. Your dreams and my courage are shattered,” Phogat wrote on social media platform X. “I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be indebted to you all. Sorry.”

Cuba’s Yusneylys Guz­man Lopez replaced Phogat in the final where Hilde­bra­ndt won 3-0 to take the gold.

Indian media reported Phogat has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against her disqualification and dema­n­ded a joint silver to be awarded.

CAS is expected to anno­unce its verdict on the case later Thursday in Paris.

Videos of Phogat with chopped hair and sunken eyes, working out to cut her weight down in a last bid to compete in the final went viral on Wednesday.

Phogat helped lead a weeks-long sit-in protest in New Delhi last year against then-Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, at the time a lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.

Singh is being tried on accusations of groping female athletes and demanding sexual favours from them — charges he denied.

Phogat, who passed the weigh-in on day one, stun­ned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the opener with a late takedown to claim a 3-2 decision en route to the final.

But Phogat was overweight on the morning of the final, despite the wrestler and her team working overnight to cut the kilos through exercising and sauna.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2024