The deadline for the final verdict regarding Vinesh Phogat's appeal against her disqualification from the women's 50kg final of Paris Olympic has been extended to August 16 (9:30pm IST). This is the second time the deadline has been extended for the ad-hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to announce its verdict.
The unprecedented disqualification has now given rise to an extraordinary and unexplained delay; the disqualification was on August 7 and the appeal was filed the same day.
INDIA'S OLYMPIC MEDAL TALLY | INDIA AT PARIS OLYMPICS | LATEST OLYMPIC NEWS
"The CAS ad hoc division president has allowed Hon. Dr Annabelle Bennett, Sole Arbitrator in the Vinesh Phogat vs. United World Wrestling (UWW) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) matter, an extension until 6-00 p.m. (Paris time) on Friday, August 16, 2024," a release from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said.
In what added to the mystery surrounding the case, a scheduled press conference (via Zoom) with IOA president PT Usha and Harish Salve, representing the association in the case, was cancelled without any explanation or update. Reporters who clicked on the meeting link at the scheduled time got an "invalid" message.
Vinesh was disqualified on August 7, when she was 100 grams above the weight limit of 50kgs. She had weighed in at 49.9kg on the morning of her first bout and went on to reach the final after three bouts but weighed 52.7kg by the end of day's play.
After a sleepless night where drastic measures were taken to make weight, Vinesh weighed in at 50.1kg on the morning of her gold medal bout and was subsequently disqualified as per UWW (United World Wrestling) rules, which states that an athlete who doesn't make the weight cut will be eliminated from the competition.
Explained: Why was Vinesh Phogat disqualified from Paris Olympics? How does wrestling weigh-in work?
Following Vinesh's disqualification, Yusneylys Guzman Lopez of Cuba (whom Vinesh had defeated in her semifinal) replaced her in the gold medal bout, which was won by Sarah Hildebrandt of the USA.
Vinesh had appealed to the CAS late on August 7 over her disqualification and the CAS accepted her appeal before referring the case to Hon. Dr Annabelle Bennett AC SC, sitting as a Sole Arbitrator.
Vinesh was represented by a group of pro bono French lawyers who are part of a panel set up for the Olympics to fight urgent cases that come before CAS. The IOA, which is an interested party in the case, was represented by Harish Salve and Vidushpat Singhania. Vinesh subsequently announced her retirement from wrestling on August 8, saying she had no strength left to continue.
The Sole Arbitrator held a hearing with the parties on August 8 and a verdict was to be announced before the Games ended. However, a statement from the IOA said the verdict would be announced on August 9, which it rectified later by saying that the deadline was for the parties to submit additional documents and that the final verdict would only be known only on Tuesday.
The grounds for appeal by Vinesh's team are understood to rest on these points: she won three bouts on August 6 with her weight within the limit, and therefore her entry to the final was legal. After those three bouts she needed to hydrate and eat to a sufficient quantity for her body to recover, so the weight she regained was not in the nature of giving her an advantage but part of an essential recovery process.