Vinesh Phogat (L) and PT Usha© X (formerly Twitter)
IOA chief PT Usha slammed former wrestler Vinesh Phogat for blaming the association for her disqualification from the Paris Olympics, saying, “the wrestler’s team is accountable, not the IOA”. Vinesh, who joined politics soon after her retirement following her Olympics disqualification, won her debut political bout, getting elected from Julana seat in the Haryana Assembly elections on Tuesday. She secured a total of 65,080 votes to defeat her BJP rival, professional pilot Yogesh Bairagi. Following the news of Vinesh’s victory, Usha revealed her thoughts on the wrestler’s criticism of IOA for their role in her disqualification at the Paris Olympics.
“She was a sportsperson. She should carry the qualities of a sportsman, I am not trying to say politicians are bad but she went to the Paris Olympics for sports and we all wanted medals from her. After meeting her, we went to the World Wrestling Federation president to protest. They said, ‘rules are rules’ and after that, everything went into chaos.
“For Vinesh Phogat we had sent her all the people she had requested, four or five people accompanied her. For us, it’s new, only 100 gms, but for them it is not new. This had happened earlier as well so she should know what to do, and how to tackle it. Her team knows everything but it still happened so it is not our or our sport science doctor’s fault, it is her and her team’s fault but still, she criticises us,” PT Usha told IANS.
Vinesh was disqualified from the 50kg category women’s freestyle final for being 100 gm overweight in the second weigh-in on the morning of the summit clash. However, she challenged the verdict in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but nothing turned out in her favour.
Meanwhile, she announced her retirement from the sport after being disqualified for the final, ending her hopes of becoming the first woman Indian wrestler to win silver or gold in the Olympics.
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