Wrestling Trials: Vinesh Phogat Refuses To Take Mat Until Assurance On Fair Shot At Qualifying For Olympics 2024; Leads To Further Drama

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The women's wrestling trials for the Asian and World Qualifiers took an interesting turn when decorated wrestler Vinesh Phogat came up with an unusual request to compete in two weight categories at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala on Monday (March 11).

Vinesh Phogat weighed in for two weight categories (50kg and 53kg). While 53kg is her forte event, the 29-year-old wrestler also filled up for the other Olympic category to ensure her Olympic category.

The bone of contention for the three-time Commonwealth Games Champion was a fair shot at qualifying for the Olympics 2024 after her national rival Antim Panghal won the quota in the 53kg category at the World Wrestling Championships last year.

However, Vinesh was ill-informed about the rules as it has been mentioned that the top four from the trials in each category may have a shot at a final trial after the Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers.

Delay in start of 50kg trials and subsequent protest by wrestlers

The bigger issue at the hands of the National selection committee was if they could allow Vinesh to compete in the two categories as per the rule. While the uncertainty over it remained, the committee decided to let Vinesh compete in both the weight categories as she was eligible as per her weight at the weigh-in time.

However, the decision took more than two hours, leading to complaints by the 50kg-wrestler group, who lost its patience. It's also worth mentioning that Ad-hoc committee officials suggested the other day that there will be no trials in the women's 53kg category which could be one of the reasons why there was a further unwanted delay in the start of the event. The other weight categories went ahead as scheduled.

Meanwhile, at the time of writing, Vinesh Phogat had little difficulty in clearing the first round of the 50kg category as she won by technical superiority and is due to compete in the second round soon.