In yet another embarrassment for the Indian contingent, Gurpreet Singh was disqualified from the 75kg Greco-Roman category after he was found to be weighing 500gm above the stipulated weight required to be eligible to compete, at the Olympic qualifiers at Istanbul in Turkey.
"Gurpreet was found overweight by 500gm, so he was disqualified from the competition,” the secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India(WFI) Vinod Tomar said.
Mr.Tomar added that one cannot blame the coaches for this blemish and said that a meeting will be held over this issue and strict action will be taken.
“After the team returns to India, a meeting will be held and stern action will be taken against Gurpreet. The coaches, however, cannot be blamed for this as they tried their best to get Gurpreet into shape but he remained defiant," he said.
He further added that the wrestler had wasted the government money that was wasted on him and could face a suspension.
"Gurpreet has wasted the government's money. He has been training in Georgia for a month now and maintaining weight is a part of training. But he has let the Federation as well the country down. So, he would face suspension in all likelihood," he said.
This is the second time in a fortnight that an Indian wrestler has been disqualified from an event after Vinesh Phogat was also disallowed from the competing in the 48kg category at the last Olympic qualifying event in April.