Vijender Singh alleges 'sabotage' in Vinesh Phogat’s Olympic disqualification

Indian boxing stalwart Vijender Singh has alleged that wrestler Vinesh Phogats disqualification from the Paris Olympics 2024 final might be a case of sabotage as elite athletes like her are wellversed with the techniques of cutting weight before major competitionsVijender who is Indias first and only male boxer to have won an Olympic medal knows a thing or two about maintaining weight before major bouts and he said it is shocking that Vinesh was 100gm over in the weighin before an Olympic finalI think it might be sabotage 100gm you have got to be kidding me We athletes can shed 5 to 6kg overnight It is difficult no doubt but we know how to control our hunger thirst and exert to the extreme the middleweight 75kg boxer told PTIAnd 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 What more could she have done Which other test he wonderedVinesh was the face of a lengthy protest against former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment and intimidation by women wrestlers She had endured police detention nights on the streets and a tumultus qualification process before making it hereThe highlight of her remarkable performance at the Paris Olympics 2024 was the opening win over defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan who came into the competition undefeated in her international careerI cant believe that Vinesh would make a mistake like this She has been an elite athlete for so long that she knows there has to be something more to it I am worried for her I hope she is fine What has happened is not good at all said Vijender a trailblazer in Indian boxingAlso ReadOne day she will bring a medal for sure Mahavir Phogat on VineshAthletes who compete in contact sports where fights are held as per weight categories have to go through the painful process of staying within their divisionsIt involves going hungry for hours avoiding even liquids and in some desperate situations stay huddled inside layers of blankets to sweat out the extra weightThere have been times when I have spat out saliva continuously so that nothing goes inside you know One cant imagine this extreme exercise There are special Sauna suits that we wear they feel like a furnace and there are times we run wearing them to shed weight he explainedIts an extraordinary exercise that takes a physical and mental toll on athletes and in 2018 sixtime world champion woman boxer M C Mary Kom in an interview to PTI had revealed how she lost 2kg in a matter of four hoursMary Kom had landed in Poland for a tournament where she eventually picked up her third gold of that year But hours before she was to take the ring she had gone through the strenuous process of shedding weight just to be eligible to fightWe landed in Poland at round 3330 in the morning and the general weighin was at around 730am I was a couple of kilograms above 48kg the category I compete in at that point she had saidSo I had roughly four hours to shed that or I would have been disqualified for being overweight at the time of general weighin But I did skipping for an hour at a stretch and just like that I was readyThankfully the flight we travelled in was nearly empty so I could sleep with my legs outstretched ensuring that I was not stiff on landing there Otherwise I dont know how I would have been able to compete she had revealedWith agency inputs