"She should take the blame too" - Saina Nehwal criticises Vinesh Phogat for her disqualification from Paris Olympics final

In what could have been a historic day for Vinesh Phogat, an unfortunate turn of events led to the Indian wrestler being disqualified from the 50 kg women's freestyle wrestling final at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Phogat accumulated two kilograms of weight on Tuesday night and didn't sleep the entire night. She didn't eat anything and tried jogging and cycling in an attempt to reduce her weight to match the criteria.

However, she fell just 100 grams short of making the cut for the final and was also deprived of a medal, as the rules suggested that she couldn't be awarded the silver medal.

Meanwhile, India's badminton star Saina Nehwal, who won bronze at the London Olympics, blamed Vinesh Phogat for how things turned out. In an interaction with NDTV, she said:

"She is an experienced athlete. Somewhere there has been a mistake on Vinesh's part too. She should take the blame too. Before such a big match, such a mistake is not right."

"She is an experienced athlete," Nehwal added. "She knows what is right or wrong. I don't know the details of wrestling. I don't know if there has been any appeal in Olympics which resulted in something significant. She knows the rule. I don't know what mistake she did, that too on the final day. I have always seen her working very hard. She gives her 100%."

This is not the first time Vinesh Phogat has participated in the Olympic Games. She has been a part of it twice before, notably in the Rio and Tokyo editions.

"It is not like she is playing her first Olympics," Nehwal said. "It's her third Olympics. As an athlete, she must know the rules. If there has been a mistake, I don't know how it happened. At such a big stage, I have not heard any such thing about any other wrestler, that they have been disqualified due to being overweight."

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Vinesh Phogat at the Paris Olympics 2024

Vinesh Phogat stole the limelight yesterday when she defeated top wrestler and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Yui Susaki in the round of 16 clash.

In the quarter-finals, she went up against Ukraine's Oksana Livach and defeated her to reach the last four. In the penultimate clash, she cruised past Cuban wrestler Yusneylys Guzman to reach the final.

With Phogat out of contention, as per rules, Guzman will compete in the finals of the event.