PARIS: The news of Vinesh Phogat's disqualification spread like wildfire on Wednesday. Frantic calls were made to anyone and everyone who was willing to take the call inside the Games Village.
Amidst the disappointment, there was the desperation to get information - on how the wrestler was doing, why she had failed to maintain the weight. Conspiracy writers were having a field day. After a lot of speculation, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the Indian team delegation's chief medical officer (CMO) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha finally released a video to explain the situation.
"Wrestlers usually participate in a weight category less than their natural weight. It gives them an advantage since they are fighting with less stronger opponents. The process of weight cut involves a calculated restriction of food and water along with sweating from exercises and sauna till the morning weigh-in.
"This weight cut causes weakness and energy depletion, which is counter-productive to participation, and hence, for energy restoration, limited water and high energy foods are given after weigh-in. Vinesh's nutritionist had calculated this to be 1.5 kg. Sometimes, there is also a rebound weight gain following competition," Dr Pardiwala said.
"Vinesh had three bouts (on Tuesday), and hence, small amounts of water had to be given to prevent dehydration. Her post-participation weight was found to be increased. The coach initiated the normal process of weight cut that he has always employed with Vinesh and felt confident that it would be achieved. However, Vinesh was found to be 100g over her 50kg weight category, and hence, she was disqualified. All possible drastic measures, including cutting off her hair and shortening of singlet, were used."
Obviously, there was some miscalculation. It was not managed well. Dr Pardiwala did not talk about that but revealed that they were taking all measures to ensure that Vinesh was physically and mentally in a good space. As a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered IV fluids following disqualification to prevent dehydration.
"We are also getting blood tests performed at the local hospital to ensure that all is well. All of Vinesh's parameters were normal throughout this process, and she feels perfectly well. Vinesh just interacted with the IOA president and mentioned that though she is physically and medically perfectly normal, she is disappointed with her disqualification."
