8 Aug 2024

Olympics: Indian wrestler retires from sport after disqualification for being 100g overweight

7:16 pm on 8 August 2024

By Rohith Nair, Reuters

Vinesh Vinesh Phogat (India) vs Yusneylis Guzmán López (Cuba), Wrestling, Women's Freestyle 50kg Semifinal during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on 6 August 2024 at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris, France - Photo Federico Pestellini / Panoramic / DPPI Media (Photo by Federico Pestellini / Panoramic / DPPI via AFP)

Vinesh Phogat, right, beat Cuba's Yusneylis Guzmán López in the women's 50kg freestyle semifinal. Photo: AFP/FEDERICO PESTELLINI

Vinesh Phogat says she has retired from wrestling following her disqualification before the women's 50kg freestyle final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday after failing to make weight.

India's Phogat was set to lock horns with American Sarah Hildebrandt for the gold medal.

However, the 29-year-old fell 100 grams short despite starving herself for a week and spending hours in the sauna to cut down to her competition weight.

"Wrestling won and I lost. My dreams are shattered. I don't have any more strength," Phogat wrote on X.

"Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will always be indebted to you all. I am sorry."

Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman Lopez replaced Phogat in the final, where Hildebrandt won 3-0 to take the gold.

- Reuters

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