The hearing into Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against her disqualification from the Olympic finals concluded at the ad-hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) here with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) hopeful of a positive resolution.
This was after the CAS ad-hoc division, set up especially for dispute resolution during the Games, accepted Vinesh’s appeal against her ouster for being 100gm overweight on the morning of her final against eventual gold-winner Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.
“Indian Olympic Association remained hopeful of a positive resolution of wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s application before the Ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against her failed weigh-in,” the IOA said in a statement.
Vinesh was replaced by Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to her in the semifinals, in the summit clash. In her appeal, the Indian has demanded that she be given a joint silver with Lopez as she was within the prescribed weight limit during her bouts on Tuesday.
Relay failure
The Indian men’s 4x400m relay team finished 10th overall in the heat to miss a final-round spot in the Paris Olympics here on Friday.
The Indian quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob and Rajesh Ramesh clocked a season’s best of 3 minutes and 0.58 seconds but that was enough only for a fourth-place finish in heat number 2 and 10th overall out of 16 teams.
The women’s 4x400m relay team also failed to qualify for the final round after finishing 15th overall out of the 16 countries. The quartet of Vithya Ramraj, Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:32.51 to finish last in heat number two.
Sreejesh flag-bearer
Celebrated goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who signed off on his international career with a bronze medal on Thursday, will join star shooter Manu Bhaker as the flag-bearer at the Games’ closing ceremony on Sunday.
India wrestler Antim Panghal, who found herself in a soup following a disciplinary breach at the Games’ Village, returned to India on Friday.
