‘She spent the entire night running and using the sauna’ – The inside story of how Vinesh Phogat tried to cut the last 100 grams

Hours after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the 50kg wrestling final due to a failed weigh-in on Wednesday morning, a member of her camp revealed the distressing details of her weight-cutting ordeal. “Her normal weight is 57kg, and she did everything to get down to 50kg,” the member said. “She was 49.9kg yesterday (Tuesday) morning, but the moment she had even a small meal, her weight bounced back to at least 53kg. She had to reach this weight to have the strength to fight in three bouts.”

“After the semifinals last night, her weight was 52.7kg. She didn’t sleep even a minute, didn’t drink a sip of water, and didn’t have a morsel of food. She spent the entire night running and using the sauna. She made it to 50.1kg but didn’t have time to cut the last 100 grams. There was no leeway and no extra time to make weight.”

According to Article 11 of the United World Wrestling’s rule book, an athlete who fails to make the weight cut will be eliminated from the event. “If an athlete does not attend or fails the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank.”

The IOA stated: “It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Women’s Wrestling 50kg class. Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you respect Vinesh’s privacy and allow her to focus on the competitions at hand.”