Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Sanjay Singh on Wednesday blamed the wrestlers’ protest for the sport fetching just one medal for India at the Paris Olympics 2024. Aman Sehrawat, the only Indian male wrestler to qualify for the Paris 2024, was the lone wrestler from the country to win a medal – a bronze. Vinesh Phogat also qualified for the final in the 50kg category but was disqualified on the day of the gold medal match after being overweight by 100 grams during the second weigh-in.
Vinesh has appealed for a joint silver medal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and the verdict is expected to come on 16 August.
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Sanjay Singh, a close aide of former WFI head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment by female wrestlers, said India could have won six medals in wrestling but the protests in 2023 adversely impacted the sport.
“India could have won 6 more medals in wrestling but given the disturbance in the sport over the last 15-16 months, we lost many medals…,” Singh told ANI.
Talking about Vinesh’s disqualification, Sanjay said that maintaining the weight is a wrestler’s personal responsibility and remains hopeful that India could add another medal to their tally with the help of the upcoming CAS verdict.
“We are hopeful that the CAS verdict will be in our favour… WFI wants the verdict to be in India’s favour because it is the country’s medal, not someone’s personal medal. It will be added to India’s medal tally.
“The category of the sport is the player’s personal decision. However, maintaining that weight also rests on the player. Gaining and reducing weight quickly takes a toll on the body of the player… She was given every facility she asked for, including training with a foreign coach in Hungary…” Sanjay Singh added.
