PT Usha reacted to Vinesh Phogat's remarks |Courtesy - IOA
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics
- Phogat failed a weigh-in hours before the final
- PT Usha is the President of the IOA
On a day Vinesh Phogat celebrated winning her debut elections after being elected as Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Julana in Haryana, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha broke on her silence on the star wrestler's Paris Olympic disqualification and put the blame on the 30-year-old for missing out on a medal.
Reacting to Phogat's win in the elections, Usha opened up on her complaints against the IOA during her campaign. The three-time Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medalist had accused Usha of not giving her support and claimed the picture taken of her from the hospital bed was taken without telling her.
"She was a sportsperson. She should carry the qualities of a sportsman, I am not trying to say politicians are bad but she went to the Paris Olympics for sports and we all wanted medals from her. After meeting her, we went to the World Wrestling Federation president to protest. They said, 'rules are rules' and after that, everything went into chaos," Usha told IANS.
Usha did not mince her words and put the blame for the incident solely on Phogat and claimed it was her team's responsibility to ensure that she maintains her weight.
"For Vinesh Phogat we had sent her all the people she had requested, four or five people accompanied her. For us, it's new, only 100 gms, but for them it is not new. This had happened earlier as well so she should know what to do, and how to tackle it. Her team knows everything but it still happened so it is not our or our sport science doctor’s fault, it is her and her team's fault but still, she criticises us," Usha added.
For those unversed, Phogat had created history after becoming the first-ever Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympics. However, the next morning she failed her weigh-in and was disqualified from the competition and missed out on any medal on a day she had the chance to become India's first female Olympic champion.
Phogat appealed her disqualification in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but her request for a joint silver medal was rejected.
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