Vinesh Phogat 'should take the blame too' for disqualification from Paris Olympics, says Saina Nehwal

While there has been an outpouring of sympathy for Vinesh Phogat ever since she was disqualified from the women’s 50kg event at the Paris Olympics for being overweight by the barest of margins, Saina Nehwal felt the star wrestler should take the blame for her ouster.

Two-time world championships bronze medallist Vinesh had become the first Indian female wrestler to qualify for an Olympic final after winning all three of her bouts on Tuesday, halting Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Yui Susake’s 82-match winning streak in her opening bout in the Round of 16.

Her dreams of winning the country’s first ever Olympic gold medal in wrestling, however dashed the following day as she was found to be overweight by just 100 grams , which resulted in her getting disqualified from the event. Vinesh had passed the weight check on Tuesday at 49.9kg, but had gained weight after her bouts.

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“She is an experienced athlete. Somewhere there has been a mistake on Vinesh’s part too. She should take the blame too. Before such a big match, such a mistake is not right,” badminton star Nehwal told NDTV.

Nehwal, who had won the country’s first ever Olympic medal in badminton in London 2012, added that Vinesh wasn’t participating in the Olympics for the first time, and should have known better.

“It is not like she is playing her first Olympics. It’s her third Olympics. As an athlete, she must know the rules. If there has been a mistake, I don’t know how it happened. At such a big stage, I have not heard any such thing about any other wrestler, that they have been disqualified due to being overweight,” Nehwal added.

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Vinesh was reportedly overweight by two kilograms after her bouts on Tuesday, and the reigning Commonwealth Games champion opted for array of drastic measures to try and cut her weight down to the permissible limit in time before her second weigh-in. Measures including cutting her hair, drawing blood and starving besides jogging and skipping, all of which were to no avail.

Vinesh would later file an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport against her disqualification, and has asked for her to be awarded the joint-silver medal. A verdict on the matter is expected to be made by Thursday.