Security tightened at IGI Airport for Vinesh Phogat’s arrival

New Delhi. Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat will arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport. She faced a difficult situation at the Paris Olympics when she was disqualified from the 50 kg gold medal match after being found 100 grams overweight during the official weigh-in.

Security at Indira Gandhi International Airport beefed up

Security has been beefed up at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in view of Vinesh Phogat’s arrival in India on Saturday. Police personnel have been deployed keeping in mind that her supporters will gather in large numbers.

The wrestler had expressed deep regret at not reaching the Olympic podium, linking her personal disappointment to the broader struggle for women’s rights in India, which she supported in her protest against the former wrestling federation chief.

The circumstances of Vinesh’s disqualification have been elaborated by her coach Woller Akos, who described the intense efforts she went through to help her meet the weight requirement. Akos, who trained Vinesh during the Paris Games, revealed in a now-deleted Facebook post that the night before the final weigh-in, the wrestler had to undergo a grueling and dangerous weight-loss process.

“After the semi-final, there was 2.7 kg of excess weight left; we exercised for an hour and twenty minutes, but still 1.5 kg remained. Later, after 50 minutes of sauna, not a drop of sweat appeared on her. There was no option left, and from midnight to 5:30 am, she worked on different cardio machines and wrestling moves, for about three-quarters of an hour at a time, with two-three minutes of rest. Then she started again. She fell, but somehow we picked her up and she spent an hour in the sauna,” Akos wrote. “I don’t intentionally write dramatic details, but I only remember thinking that she could have died.”

Despite the team’s efforts, Vinesh was unable to make the weight, leading to her disqualification from the final bout. Phogat’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the joint silver medal was rejected on Wednesday.