“Sorry For What Happened But…”: World Wrestling Body Chief To NDTV

As India waits for the results of wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s hearing at the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), the United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic shared an important insight as far as the entire weigh-in controversy is concerned. Lalovic, in an exclusive chat with NDTV, expressed his sympathies over the entire incident that saw Vinesh being disqualified from the Paris Olympic Games on the morning of her gold medal bout. Vinesh’s weight was reportedly just 100 grams over the 50kg mark that she needed to touch in order to be eligible for the final bout. But, she had to be disqualified.

Vinesh decided to lodge an appeal at the CAS, the results of which are still awaited, but the UWW chief doesn’t think there’s much scope for change in the results as the wrestling body was only following the rules that have been laid down.

“I am so sorry for what happened, but no matter the size of your country, athletes are athletes. This weigh-in was public, everyone saw what happened. How can we allow someone to compete when we all saw what happened. We don’t have any other choice but to follow our rules,” Lalovic told NDTV.

“We introduced that rule because of the care for the health of the athletes. Athletes have been obliged to weight rules in order to compete. Maybe some slight adjustments in the rules can be made, but we are not changing the rules. We are counseled and helped by our medical commission. They are absolutely against any change,” he added, ruling out the possibility of a major overhaul in weigh-in rules.

While the gold, silver and bronze medals have already been handed in the 50kg women’s freestyle wrestling, Vinesh has appealed for a joint-silver to be granted to her as she had already made the final while passing the weigh-in test.

Though there’s no provision for a second silver to be given but Vinesh and those fighting for her, haven’t given up hope.