CAS Found Merit In Vinesh Phogat’s Plea, But Why It Didn’t Give Her Joint Silver?

New Delhi: The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS), the sole arbitrator that denied Vinesh Phogat a joint-silver medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 after her disqualification, had found ‘merit’ in the wrestler’s plea. But, it stated that it had no discretion under the United World Wrestling rules to offer relief to Phogat.

Calling such laws as ‘draconian’, the CAS had observed in  its full verdict—published on August 19—that Phogat should have been considered eligible for the rounds she qualified after the first day’s weigh-in, instead of being disqualified from the entire competition. It has also expressed that Phogat did not commit any ‘indiscretion’ or wrongdoing that led to her disqualification.

Phogat was disqualified after failing to qualify for her weigh-in before her gold-medal match. Her weight measured 100 grams above her permissible sub-50kg weight.

Following her disqualification, she had appealed to the CAS to give her joint silver medal. The arbitrator had pronounced its verdict in one-line on August 14, followed by the detailed order later.

According to UWW rules, the wrestlers are weighed on both days when they compete in their bouts. Those who fail to make the weight in their category on either day are disqualified. They also lose their rank in the entire competition.