Vinesh disqualified from Paris 2024 Olympics: Akhil Kumar recalls similar episode in 2012, backs wrestler ‘to come back stronger’

Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris Olympics grabbed the headlines throughout Wednesday as she failed to meet the weight requirement for her women’s 50kg wrestling gold medal bout.

Sitting in his office at Jhajjhar in Haryana, it brought back horrors of the past for boxer Akhil Kumar.

Back in 2012, he faced a similar situation where he failed to reduce weight in time to take part in the Asian Continental Olympic qualification tournament, which eventually blew his chances of booking a berth in the London Olympics.

Akhil, by then had already won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and was considered one of the major medal prospects in the 56kg bantamweight category.

But during the weigh-in ahead of the trials, he was declared overweight by two kilograms, and his hopes of making it to the third Olympics were up in the smoke.

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“I know the feeling,” Akhil told Sportstar while scrolling down the social media platforms to know the latest developments on the Vinesh issue.

“I saw several people suggesting random things – cutting hair, wearing light clothes and whatnot to reduce body weight, but having gone through a similar situation, I know, those things don’t work too often. Every athlete has an idea about their body weight and they do everything to be within the limit,” Akhil said, “What happened with Vinesh is unfortunate and she was just unlucky…”

Vinesh weighed 49.90kg on Tuesday morning ahead of her first-round bout, well within the permissible limit.

However, as she went on to defeat defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki and Cuba’s Yuznelis Guzman, she gained weight, and, despite efforts by her medical team, Vinesh remained just a little over 100 grams.

“My heart goes out to Vinesh. Mentally, she is very strong and I am sure she will come back stronger in Los Angeles. I know these are tough times, but instead of trolling her or rebuking her, the entire country must rally around her for whatever she has achieved so far,” Akhil, who is now an Assistant Commissioner in Jhajjar Police, said.

“It was not easy for her to overcome so many challenges and come so far. When the Olympics started, who would have thought that she would tame Susaki and eventually storm into the final? But with grit and willpower, she proved everyone wrong and I think, in these crucial times, she needs all the support and encouragement and not trolling…”

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“Just imagine what she must have gone through last evening despite achieving so much success on the mat. As a top athlete, she was assured of a medal and then she got to know that she was overweight. It’s not easy to be in such a situation. There’s pressure from all corners, and even then, she tried everything – spending the entire night running and using the sauna – till the end to compete and I think that speaks volumes about her grit and efforts…,” he added.

Vinesh was scheduled to take on USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist for the gold medal, but her campaign ended in heartbreak as she not only lost out on a confirmed silver but was also admitted to the hospital with dehydration.

“Not everyone’s physique or metabolism is the same, so what might work for me, might not work for someone else,” Akhil said, adding: “Back in our times, the technology was not advanced, so we believed in random things to reduce weight. But I know most of those things are ineffective. So, we need to understand that whatever is being written about reducing body weight may not always be effective for all the athletes…”

In his early days, Akhil had gone down to 48 kg from 51kg category solely following natural processes and did not even take any medicines to reduce weight.

“In 2012, the same approach did not work. So, one can’t put a finger and say that this approach will help in reducing even smaller weight limits overnight. Instead of speculating what could have been done, or what should be done, let’s understand the rules and follow them . . . ,” he added.

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However, having closely followed Vinesh’s journey, Akhil believes that it’s important for the wrestler to not lose hope.

“She should not get bogged down by what people say. Instead, she should practice pranayam, meditate, read a lot of books and just be herself,” Akhil said.

“Being a firm believer of destiny, I know that there’s no substitute for hard work, and having come so far, Vinesh can’t afford to give up. She should push the reset button and start all over again,” the former pugilist said, adding: “She should let bygones be bygones and just stay focused on her target. Self-belief is the key…”