IOA sparks confusion over CAS’ verdict on Vinesh Phogat’s Olympic silver medal plea
Not just Vinesh Phogat herself, but the whole of India awaited the verdict on Saturday from the ad-hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the plea for a joint silver medal.
However, the committee deferred the announcement, saying they would require more time to deliberate on the Indian wrestler’s appeal against her disqualification from the women’s 50kg freestyle final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. But post the revelation, there was confusion sparked by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) regarding the date of the announcement.
Vinesh virtually attended the hearing on Friday, where senior counsels Harish Salve and Vidushpat Singhania presented her side of the argument, while United World Wrestling, the second party in this case, had its representatives. Initially, it was reported that the interim order would be out on Friday itself following the end of the hearing, but there wasn’t any official communication until early Saturday morning when a release mentioned that the announcement was expected to be within 9:30 pm IST.
However, later on Saturday evening, well past the aforementioned deadline, IOA released a statement saying that the verdict would be out on Sunday (August 11), but quickly issued a clarification to say that the outcome will be known only on August 13.
“The ad-hoc division of CAS has extended time for the Sole Arbitrator Hon. Dr Annabelle Bennett in the Vinesh Phogat vs. United World Wrestling & the International Olympic Committee matter to give a decision till 6-00 p.m. on August 13, 2024,” the IOA statement read. “The reference to August 11 in the earlier communication sent by me was to the time given to all parties to present any additional documents before the Sole Arbitator.”
The body apologised for “the confusion and inconvenience caused”.
The CAS ad-hoc division set up, especially for dispute resolution during the Games, had accepted Vinesh’s appeal against her ouster on Friday.
The 29-year-old had demanded that she be given a joint silver with Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who had lost to Vinesh but was later promoted to the final after the Indian wrestler was disqualified for being overweight by 100 grams during the weigh-in before the gold-medal bout against American Sarah Hildebrandt.
Crestfallen after being disqualified, the world championship bronze-medallist announced her retirement on social media .
The United World Wrestling has already made it clear that it was not in favour of making an exception for her although it could consider reforms in rules at a later time. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach held a similar view.