With Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the final of women’s 50 kg final at the Paris Olympics, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh has raised questions on the presence of her personal coach and support staff, wondering what they are doing in Paris. With Vinesh disqualified from participating in the final, the entire country is pondering the question as to how a mistake of such magnitude be made on such a big stage.

On Wednesday, the WFI president directed those questions towards Vinesh’s coach, dietician and physio and said that they should be held accountable for the embarrassing situation. “The player is fully concentrated on her practice which is why it would be unfair to blame her for this. Why is the support staff sent with the athlete, and the government sends them along with the player, ‘Wo sab wahan tafri karne gaye hai kya (have they gone there for tourism)?’ Sanjay Singh said.

“An athlete who has won three of her bouts has to concentrate on her game, the staff is supposed to keep all other details in check,” Sanjay Singh told IANS in an exclusive interview.

Vinesh was disqualified as she failed her final weight check, turning out to be 100gm overweight despite attempting to make valiant attempts to shed the 2.7 kg she had picked to replenish the energy lost on Tuesday.

Despite being under the required weight limit on Tuesday, Phogat was needed to replenish after her three exerting bouts which saw her go above the weight limit. She spent the night trying to reduce weight to below the 50 kg mark and was seen skipping, cycling and jogging in her best effort to make it but eventually could not meet the target.

The team doing incredible work behind the scenes with @Phogat_Vinesh

(Standing L-R) coach Woller Akos, Sports Scientist @waynelombard, physio Ashwini, S&C Mayank, me

Sitting – Vinesh with her 3 sparring partners.

Go for Vinesh. Keep fighting@OGQ_India pic.twitter.com/IgV0lInZB7

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) August 6, 2024

Sanjay Singh went on to elaborate on the consequences of such a mistake, claiming the WFI plans to ban players from taking their personal staff with them and only coaches, physio and nutritionists who are eligible through WFI courses will be sent with the team.

“When we return from Paris, the entire WFI community will try their best to implement the rule that only the nutritionists and physios eligible through our courses will be sent with the team and no others will be entertained,” he added.

“In all, 140 crore Indians have had their hearts broken. On the issue of her weight gain, her personal coach, dietician, and physio were present with her and only they can tell what happened. She would have 100% won the gold medal the way she had prepared so the question must be asked of her coach,” he concluded.

Incidentally, the WFI had tried to control the involvement of wrestlers’ personal coaches when they were representing the country but to no avail as they had to bow down to star power every time and many times the personal coaches have been accommodated at the cost of important support staff.