Wrestler Vinesh Phogat‘s heartbreaking disqualification from the Paris Olympics – for being 100 grams overweight – means a political battle is brewing between the BJP and the Congress-led opposition, particularly in light of sexual assault allegations against ex-wrestling body chief Brij Bhushan.

Phogat’s disqualification was followed by a flood of reactions from political leaders; Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the government’s charge focusing on her “resilience” – and called her “a champion among champions” and urging her to “come back stronger”.

“Today’s setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing. At the same time… you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head-on. We are all rooting for you,” he said.

PM Modi, Ministers’ Message Of Support

The Prime Minister was joined by other senior members of the Indian government, including Home Minister Amit Shah, in hailing Ms Phogat’s “resilience”. Mr Shah, for example, said “this misfortune is an exception in her trailblazing career… am sure she will bounce back to win…”

READ | Can Vinesh Phogat’s Disqualification Be Overturned? PM Modi

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju called Ms Phogat “a beacon of hope and pride for India”.

Finally, to underline the scale of political aftershocks of Ms Phogat’s sporting disqualification, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya spoke in the Lok Sabha, accompanied by protests from the opposition.

READ | Wrestler Vinesh Phogat Out Of Olympics Over Weight, India Appeals

Mr Mandaviya’s statement, however, raised eyebrows.

Confirming the disqualification, he only declared the government had provided all possible assistance to Ms Phogat, which included personal staff and training facilities, and outlined expenditures made.

#WATCH | Delhi | INDIA bloc MPs stage protest at Makar Dwar of Parliament seeking justice for wrestler Vinesh Phogat after disqualification from Paris Olympics pic.twitter.com/8qZ6GqjbeT

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2024

Opposition MPs dissatisfied with his statement walked out of the House in protest.

“40 Crore Indians Shocked”, Congress Attacks

On X Congress MP Randeep Surjewala claimed a “conspiracy” (the word is now trending on the platform) and declared a “black day” in the history of Indian sports. “40 crore Indians are shocked… this is a huge “hate conspiracy”. But know that the country is with her…” Mr Surjewala said.

The Congress leader’s lengthy tweet also included detailed references to the #MeToo protest against six-time former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, who faces charges of sexual harassment. Unmoved by his protestations of innocence a Delhi court said there is “sufficient evidence” to proceed.

“First the Wrestling Association President, the BJP MP of that time… Brij Bhushan Singh… tortured the country’s world champion daughter with physical and mental torture. Then BJP people got this daughter of the country dragged by police on the streets of Jantar Mantar (in Delhi),” he tweeted.

The reference was to shocking images of Ms Phogat being dragged away from a protest site in the national capital in May last year. Memories of that day were flagged Tuesday by fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, who called her a “lioness (who was) kicked and crushed in her own country…”

140 करोड़ भारतवासी स्तब्ध हैं,
खेल इतिहास का यह “ब्लैक डे” है।

🫵 ये एक बहुत बड़ा “नफरती षड्यंत्र” है,

▪️पहले, कुश्ती संघ के अध्यक्ष, भाजपा के उस समय के मोदी जी के चहेते सांसद, बृजभूषण शरण सिंह ने देश की विश्व चैंपियन बेटी को शारीरिक व मानसिक प्रताड़नाओं से सताया,

▪️फिर… https://t.co/wAZreZdZP3 pic.twitter.com/ZSjHgnFH5c

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 7, 2024

“This girl is going to conquer the world but she lost to the system in this country…”

Mr Surjewala’s strident post also contained four ‘questions’, including “who is the one who could not digest Vinesh Phogat’s victory”, suggesting the champion wrestler may have been sabotaged.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also responded, but with less controversial remarks. Mr Gandhi called the disqualification “unfortunate” while Mrs Gandhi Vadra said, “My sister… do not consider yourself alone… remember you will always be our champion.”

READ | Vinesh Struggled As Weight Increased By 1kg Overnight. Here’s What She Did

“Conspiracy Vs Conspiracy”

The “conspiracy” tag, however, was lobbed back by another BJP leader – former champion boxer Vijender Singh, who claimed a conspiracy against Ms Phogat and India’s other medal hopes by “people who are not happy to see India rise as a sporting nation”.

“I think it might be sabotage. 100 grams… you have got to be kidding me. Athletes can shed five to six kg overnight. It is difficult… but we know how to control hunger, thirst…” he said.

Mr Singh, a former Congress member, is the only Indian male boxer to win an Olympic medal.

“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…” he declared.

With input from agencies

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As the entire India sheds tears on Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris Olympic Games, the contingent’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dinshaw Paudiwala for the quadrennial event, shed light on the entire weight controversy. Vinesh was set to participate in her gold medal match on Wednesday but she failed the morning weigh-in, as she was overweight by about 100 grams, in the 50kg category. Dr Paudiwala explained that Vinesh’s weight gain was higher than expected after she finished her three bouts on Tuesday. But, it couldn’t be brought down in time despite extreme efforts.

In a video statement, Dr. Paudiwala and Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha gave an in-depth explanation of the entire episode.

Here’s the full text of Dr. Paudiwala’s statement:

“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 prior to the weigh-in in the morning involves a calculated restriction of food and water.

Besides this, the athlete needs to sweat and that sweating is done with sauna and with exercise. Now this weight cut has the benefit of putting you into a lighter weight but does cause weakness and energy depletion, and this is counterproductive to participation.

So most wrestlers will thereafter go in for some amount of energy restoration with limited water and high energy foods.

These are usually given after the way in the calculation from the nutritionist, which is done is Athlete specific and Vinesh’s nutritionist felt that the usual amount that she takes is about 1.5 kilograms totally over the day, which gives enough energy for the buns.

Sometimes there’s also a factor of a rebound weight gain following competition. Vinesh had three bouts and hence to prevent any dehydration, some amount of water had to be given.

We found that her post-participation weight was increased more than normal and the coach initiated the normal process of weight cut that he has always employed with Vinesh.

This is something that’s worked with her for a long period of time. He felt confident that this would be achieved and over the night we went ahead with the weight cut procedure.

However, in the morning we found that despite all of our efforts, her weight was 100 gramms over her 50 kilogram weight category and hence she was disqualified.

We have tried all possible drastic measures throughout the night, including cutting off her hair, and shortening her clothes. And despite all of this, we could not make that 50 kg weight category following disqualification.

As a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered some intravenous fluids just to prevent dehydration and typically we get a few blood tests done just to make sure that everything is normal. So this process is going on at the local Olympic hospital here.

All of Vinesh’s parameters during this weight cut were normal, and throughout this process she actually felt perfectly normal.

We just interacted with the IOA doctor and it was mentioned that although Vinesh is physically and medically perfectly normal, she’s disappointed that this is her third Olympics and she had to be disqualified.’