CAS Accepts Vinesh Phogat's Plea for Silver Medal: Harish Salve to Fight Case

The hearing for Vinesh Phogat's appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. Paris time, or around 1 p.m. IST on August 9 (Friday). The interim ruling is likely around an hour later. This is a significant boost for Vinesh Phogat and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) since the CAS approved Vinesh's request in its preliminary evaluation on Thursday. More crucially, this maintains Vinesh Phogat's prospects of winning a silver medal in the women's 50kg wrestling alive.

Vinesh was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 hours before her gold medal match against Sarah Ann Hildebrandt of the United States because she failed the weigh-in process and was discovered to be 100gm overweight. She was deprived of a podium finish despite having secured at least a silver medal as the first Indian female wrestler to reach an Olympic final.

Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba, who lost to Vinesh in the semi-finals, has advanced to the final. Guzman, on the other hand, fell 0-3 to Hildebrandt, becoming the fourth US woman to earn a gold medal in wrestling.

Vinesh, on the other side, was left devastated. No amount of begging by IOA authorities or her coaches was sufficient. Even extreme tactics such as chopping her hair, staying awake all night, and drinking the bare minimum for more than 12 hours were insufficient. The United World Wrestling (UWW) followed its regulations, which require every wrestler to be within the weight category's legal limit during the weigh-in on the morning of each match day. Vinesh was banned and barred from competing for medals after being discovered to be overweight.

Vinesh and IOA had no choice but to make an appeal to the CAS. Their first appeal was against being disqualified from the final. Vinesh requested that the CAS intervene and let her to compete for gold, which was denied; however, the Indian wrestler's second request to get the joint-silver medal was allowed. Notably, Vinesh won her first three fights on August 6, fair and square. She weighed 49.9 kgs on Tuesday morning during the weigh-in procedure, but as her hard bouts continued, she couldn't hunger or go without drink. The bare minimum eating resulted in an unanticipated weight increase of 2.7 kg.

Since wrestling became a two-day event at the Games, with medal matches on the second day, every wrestler has been required to pass the weigh-in on both days. Vinesh failed the second day's weigh-ins.

However, not all is lost for the 29-year-old wrestler, who announced her retirement from the sport on Thursday, citing a lack of strength.

IOA hires Harish Salve to contest Vinesh Phogat's case at CAS

According to media sources, the CAS has instructed her to choose counsel for the hearing on Friday. The IOA allegedly called Harish Salve, the former Solicitor General of India. The senior counsel is anticipated to defend the IOA and Vinesh before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The IOA argued in its original legal position that the 100gm additional weight was "extremely negligible" and was caused by "bloating," which provided Vinesh with no weight advantage.

The excess of 100g is absolutely minor (representing about 0.1 to 0.2% of the athlete's weight) and can easily be generated by bloating of a human body during summer weather, since the heat causes the human body to retain extra water for survival needs. It might also be attributable to the athlete's increased muscle mass from competing three times on the same day. It might also be caused by the athlete's post-competition food consumption in order to maintain her health and integrity for the tough competition.

"The conditions under which she "regained" weight after her first fights plainly reveal that this was not a case of extra weight offering any benefit at all, but rather the implementation of a standard and necessary recuperation procedure. Finally, it should be noted that the CAS must protect athletes' fundamental rights, particularly the right to respect for their bodily integrity," the legal statement stated.