2008 Olympic bronze medalist boxer Vijender Singh has expressed his shock and disappointment after it was announced that wrestler Vinesh Phogat will not be given a Paris Olympics 2024 silver medal, despite her appeal. On Wednesday, Vinesh’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a joint silver medal was dismissed, with an operative order being announced two days before the extended deadline of August 16. Upon hearing the news, Vijender admitted that he had been expecting a silver medal announcement instead.

“I was waiting for when the silver medal will be announced,” Vijender told ANI. “Now that I’ve come to know of the news, it is one that saddens me. I am not happy with the decision,” he continued.

#WATCH | Delhi: On Vinesh Phogat’s application dismissed by CAS | Boxer Vijender Singh says, “This is a very sad and unfortunate thing for us…We could have won gold in the Olympics if she had made it through the finals. We are standing with Vinesh and will always support… pic.twitter.com/lU7f46gfGc

— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2024

Vinesh was disqualified from 50kg freestyle category at the Paris Olympics, after she weighed in 100gm more than the limit on the second day, thereby, not being allowed to participate in the final. The day prior, Vinesh had won three successive bouts to enter the gold medal clash.

Vijender had been one among several renowned athletes to stand beside Vinesh, and reiterated his solidarity. “This is a very unfortunate news for the athlete and for the nation, that we could’ve won a gold had this not happened,” he said. “I’d tweeted before that I’m standing alongside Vinesh, and I will continue to do so. Whatever her story is, I will be there alongside her,” he added.

Vinesh and her team had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to be granted a joint silver medal. She had been represented in the case by a team of French lawyers, as well as Indian lawyers led by the renowned Harish Salve.

A decision had been earlier expected by August 13, but the deadline had been extended to August 16. However, the operative order has come earlier.

Indian boxing stalwart Vijender Singh has alleged that wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Olympics final might be a case of sabotage as elite athletes like her are well-versed with the techniques of cutting weight before major competitions. Vijender, who is India’s first and only male boxer to have won an Olympic medal, knows a thing or two about maintaining weight before major bouts and he said it is shocking that Vinesh was 100gm over in the weigh-in before an Olympic final. “I think it might be sabotage. 100gm, you have got to be kidding me. We athletes can shed 5 to 6kg overnight. It is difficult no doubt but we know how to control our hunger, thirst, and exert to the extreme,” the middle-weight (75kg) boxer told PTI.

“And when I say sabotage I mean people who are not happy to see India rise as a sporting nation. This girl has been through so much, your heart breaks for her. What more could she have done? Which other test?” he wondered.

Vinesh was the face of a lengthy protest against former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment and intimidation by women wrestlers. She had endured police detention, nights on the streets and a tumultus qualification process before making it here.

The highlight of her remarkable performance at the Olympics was the opening win over defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan who came into the competition undefeated in her international career.

“I can’t believe that Vinesh would make a mistake like this. She has been an elite athlete for so long that she knows, there has to be something more to it. I am worried for her, I hope she is fine. What has happened is not good at all,” said Vijender, a trailblazer in Indian boxing.

Athletes who compete in contact sports, where fights are held as per weight categories, have to go through the painful process of staying within their divisions.

It involves going hungry for hours, avoiding even liquids and in some desperate situations, stay huddled inside layers of blankets to sweat out the extra weight.

“There have been times when I have spat out saliva continuously so that nothing goes inside, you know. One can’t imagine this extreme exercise. There are special Sauna suits that we wear, they feel like a furnace and there are times we run wearing them to shed weight,” he explained.

It’s an extraordinary exercise that takes a physical and mental toll on athletes and in 2018, six-time world champion woman boxer M C Mary Kom, in an interview to PTI, had revealed how she lost 2kg in a matter of four hours.

Mary Kom had landed in Poland for a tournament, where she eventually picked up her third gold of that year. But hours before she was to take the ring, she had gone through the strenuous process of shedding weight just to be eligible to fight.

“We landed in Poland at round 3-3:30 in the morning and the general weigh-in was at around 7:30am. I was a couple of kilograms above 48kg, the category I compete in, at that point,” she had said.

“So, I had roughly four hours to shed that or I would have been disqualified for being over-weight at the time of general weigh-in. But I did skipping for an hour at a stretch and just like that, I was ready.

“Thankfully, the flight we travelled in was nearly empty so I could sleep with my legs outstretched, ensuring that I was not stiff on landing there. Otherwise, I don’t know how I would have been able to compete,” she had revealed.