The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) while rejecting wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against her disqualification reasoned that it is an athlete’s responsibility to stay within the weight-limit and no relief can be provided on that count but termed as “draconian” the consequence of failing the weigh-in on the second day.

Vinesh was disqualified from the Paris Olympics after failing to make the weight on the second day of the competition. Scheduled to compete in the gold medal bout in the women’s 50kg category, Vinesh was found overweight by 100gm on August 8.

The UWW rules state that a wrestler has to clear the weigh-in on both days of the competition. While UWW allows a 2kg weight tolerance in many international competitions, there is no such buffer at the Olympics.

Vinesh had become the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympic final.

“.....the Sole Arbitrator has concluded that the Applicant, of her own free will,
entered into the 50 kg wrestling category and well knew that this required her to maintain a weight for competition below 50 kg.

“Article 7 of the Rules provides, relevantly, that each contestant is deemed to be taking part of her own free will and is responsible for herself and is entitled to compete in only one weight category, the one corresponding to her weight at the time of the official weigh-in,” the detailed CAS order, which was published on Monday, stated.

“The Applicant is an experienced wrestler who had previously competed under the Rules. There is no evidence to the contrary, or any evidence by the Athlete that she
did not understand the weight requirements.”

An ad-hoc division of the CAS gave the decision after three postponements.

“The consequences of the failed second weigh-in, which do not arise from any illegal or wrongful act on the part of the Applicant are, in the opinion of the Sole Arbitrator, draconian. A consequence of elimination without ranking from the round for which
the Athlete was found ineligible, having been eligible for the rounds for which she competed, would seem to be a fairer solution.”