CAS slams World Wrestling’s ‘draconian’ rules but no relief for Vinesh Phogat

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in a detailed, 24-verdict, called the United World Wrestling’s rules of punishing an athlete for failing the second-day weigh-in process “draconian” but provided no relief to India’s Vinesh Phogat.

CAS said it was Vinesh Phogat’s responsibility to make sure she was under the permissible limit during both days of the women’s 50kg wrestling in the Paris Olympics 2024. Vinesh, who had no problems in clearing the weigh-in process on the first day of her event, was found 100gm overweight on the second day – the day of her gold medal bout – and was disqualified and stripped of a podium finish. She appealed at the CAS for a joint silver medal, which was dismissed.

An ad-hoc division of the CAS had on August 14 rejected her appeal and the decision was given after three postponements.

In her appeal, Vinesh demanded that she be given a joint silver medal with Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to her in the semifinals but was promoted to the summit clash following her disqualification. The gold was claimed by American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.

“The consequences of the failed second weigh-in, which do not arise from any illegal or wrongful act on the part of the Applicant are, in the opinion of the Sole Arbitrator, draconian.

“A consequence of elimination without ranking from the round for which the Athlete was found ineligible, having been eligible for the rounds for which she competed, would seem to be a fairer solution. ”

The UWW rules state that a wrestler must clear the weigh-in on both days of the competition. While the UWW allows a 2kg weight tolerance in many international competitions, such as Ranking Series events, there is no such buffer at the Olympics.

Vinesh had become the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympic final and her disqualification created a flutter in the wrestling world, especially after her stunning victory over the legendary Yui Susaki, who had not lost a single bout in her international career before bumping into Vinesh.

“…..the Sole Arbitrator has concluded that the Applicant, of her own free will, entered into the 50 kg wrestling category and well knew that this required her to maintain a weight for competition below 50 kg.”

Article 7 of the Rules provides, relevantly, that each contestant is deemed to be taking part of her own free will and is responsible for herself and is entitled to compete in only one weight category, the one corresponding to her weight at the time of the official weigh-in,” the detailed CAS order, which was published on Monday, stated.

“The Applicant is an experienced wrestler who had previously competed under the Rules. There is no evidence to the contrary, or any evidence by the Athlete that she did not understand the weight requirements.”She voluntarily entered the 50 kg category and, from the evidence, undertook a regime to keep within that weight limit. Her evidence was that she did not have sufficient time to complete a weight loss program, not that she somehow found it interfered with her bodily rights.”

Vinesh returned to India on Saturday to a hero’s welcome.