Vinesh Phogat, the Indian wrestler, has been hospitalised due to dehydration, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Sanjay Singh, said on Wednesday.
According to reports, Vinesh has been hospitalised after she spent the whole night trying to lose weight so as to not get disqualified.
The shattered 29-year-old had to be taken to the polyclinic inside the Games village due to severe dehydration earlier in the day.
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh on Vinesh Phogat's disqualification: 'We have less time, but we will do whatever is possible. Since she was training all night to reduce her weight, there is slight dehydration. Now she is fit and taking rest in the games village. It is extremely sad for the country that we missed our first gold medal in Women's Wrestling because of the overweight issue. Our athletes are very well prepared and they will all play extremely well. We are hoping for 2-3 medals.'
The Indian wrestling contingent was expectedly distraught. 'Everyone here is feeling as if someone in the family has died. We don't know what has struck us. Everyone is shocked,' India's national women's coach Virender Dahiya said.
Vinesh was disqualified from the Olympic 50kg final and will lose her silver medal after exceeding the weight limit by a little over 100 grams during Wednesday’s weigh-in. She was set to face Sarah Hilderbrandt of the USA in the final.
Cutting weight is a painful process that wrestlers have to endure if their natural body weight is higher than the division in which they compete. Vinesh's natural body weight is about 56-57kg and it takes massive effort for her to get down to 50kg.
While in invitational tournaments, UWW (United World Wrestling) allows for a grace of upto 2kg, no such relaxation exists for showpieces like Olympics, the world championships and the Asian Championships.
Athletes competing in contact sports go without food and even water two days before the weigh-in. Boxer Nikhat Zareen had said after her defeat in Paris that she did not take either food or water for two days to stay within the weight limit and lost strength as a result.
Vinesh will be replaced by the Cuban wrestler, Yuznelys Guzman, whom she beat on Tuesday. Guzman will take on the USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, for the gold medal.
