Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has appealed her disqualification from her gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Games to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), according to a press release from CAS.
Phogat was disqualified from the gold medal match of the women’s 50kg freestyle category on Wednesday after she failed to make the required weight on the morning of the bout.
Phogat, who had become the first Indian woman to qualify for an Olympic wrestling final, later appeared to announce her retirement from the sport on social media.
“Mom, wrestling defeated me. I have lost. Please forgive me. Your dream, my spirit, it’s all shattered. I don’t have more strength than this now,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024”
“I’ll forever be indebted to you. Please forgive me,” she added.
On Friday, CAS released a statement saying that Phogat has submitted an appeal against her disqualification by United World Wrestling (UWW).
The statement added that Phogat had initially sought a decision from CAS to “annul” the disqualification and hold another weigh-in before the final as well as “a declaration that she be declared eligible and qualified to participate in the final.”
“However, she did not request urgent interim measures,” CAS said. “The CAS Ad hoc Division procedure is fast, but it was not possible for a decision on the merits to be issued within an hour, bearing in mind that the Respondent UWW would have had to be heard first.”
Phogat is seeking an annulment of her disqualification and to be awarded a shared silver medal with Yusneylis Guzmán López of Cuba.
