Paris Olympics: Abhinav Bindra ‘completely gutted’ after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification

New Delhi: Beijing Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra was ‘completely gutted’ after Vinesh Phogat got disqualified from the women’s 50 kg event at the Paris Olympics after being weighed a few grams over the permissible limits on Wednesday morning.

Vinesh on Tuesday became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of an Olympic Games after she defeated Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman 5-0 in the semifinal.

“Completely gutted. Sometimes you don’t need a gold medal to be a true champion to people,” Bindra posted on ‘X’.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday released a statement addressing Vinesh’s exit from the Games due to being overweight and asked to respect the privacy of a grappler.

“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the Women’s Wrestling 50 kg class. Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50 kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you respect Vinesh’s privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand,” the Indian Olympic Association said in a statement on Wednesday.

Another Olympian, Joydeep Karmakar, showed disappointment with Vinesh’s sudden exit from the Games and questioned the process of disqualification.

“Not sure about how it works, but this could not be more painful for all of us! I can’t even guess what she is feeling! But isn’t the weight count for the day of the match? If she was under 50 kg yesterday, is it not a legit win, then why out of medal contention?” Karmakar posted on ‘X’.

She started her campaign by stunning world No. 1, Japan’s four-time World Champion and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Yui Susaki, who was undefeated in 95 international matches in her entire career as a wrestler.

Vinesh then advanced to her maiden semifinals after beating Ukraine’s Oksana Vasylivna Livach 7-5 in her second bout of the day.

–IANS