Vinesh Phogat's first reaction after disqualification at Paris Olympics: 'Hard luck we missed the medal, but...'

Vinesh Phogat's campaign at the Paris Olympics came to a heartbreaking end on Wednesday morning. She was disqualified ahead of her gold medal bout in the women's freestyle 50kg category. During the weigh-in ahead of the final, Vinesh was found to be overweight by 100 grams, which led to her disqualification from the title bout. This also meant Vinesh would return home without a medal.

According to Indian Olympic team doctor Dinshaw Pardiwala, drastic measures, including cutting Vinesh's hair, were taken to ensure she weighed within the required limit to compete in the gold medal bout. However, the efforts went in vain.

Following the disqualification, India women's national coach Virender Dahiya and Manjeet Rani met the feisty wrestler, who had caused a flutter at the wrestling arena on Tuesday by beating world number one and defending champion Yui Susaki in the opening round of her weight category on Tuesday.

Dahiya revealed they interacted with Vinesh, who took the disqualification sportingly.

"It sent a shockwave through the wrestling contingent. The girls were feeling pretty low after the news broke. We met Vinesh and tried to console her. She was brave. She told us, 'it's hard luck that we missed the medal, but it is part of the game'," Dahiya said, sharing the details of their meeting.

“Several IOA officials were also there to meet her.”

IOA chief PT Usha met Vinesh shortly after the disqualificationand also issued a statement in which she confirmed that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) appealed the decision to the United World Wrestling.

“We are providing Vinesh with all medical and emotional support. The Wrestling Federation Of India has filed an appeal to UWW to consider the decision to disqualify Vinesh and it is following this up in the strongest possible manner. I am aware of the relentless effort made by Vinesh's medical team throughout the night so that she could meet the competition requirements,” she said.

There was more bad news for Indian wrestling during the day when Antim Panghal made a first round exit in the women's 53kg, losing her opening bout by technical superiority.

"She just could not play her game, did not look in her element," said the coach.