A member of Phogat’s team revealed to the sports magazine the drastic measures the athlete had taken to lose weight Sports StarThe anonymous source claimed that Phogat starved himself and avoided water in order to lose weight.
The member also revealed that her team also took senseless measures such as cutting her hair, taking her blood and helping her lose weight.
“After the semi-final last night, she weighed 52.7 kg. She didn’t sleep a minute, didn’t drink a sip of water, and didn’t eat a bite. She was jogging and in the sauna all night. She made it to 50.1 kg, but didn’t have time to lose the last 100 grams. There was no wiggle room and no extra time to make weight.”
The wrestler from Haryana, who moved up from the 53 kg class to the 50 kg categoryhad difficulty maintaining her weight throughout her Olympic campaign.
A member of her team said Sports Star“Her normal weight is 57 kg and she has done everything she can to get down to 50 kg. Yesterday (Tuesday) morning she weighed 49.9 kg but as soon as she ate even a small meal her weight would jump back to at least 53 kg. She had to get to that weight to have the strength to fight three matches.” These extreme measures left Vinesh weak, fragile and dehydrated. She was taken to a medical centre in the Olympic Village after she became dizzy and briefly lost consciousness.Weight loss is a grueling process that wrestlers have to go through when their natural body weight is higher than that of their competition class. Vinesh’s natural weight is around 56-57 kg and it takes considerable effort to get down to 50 kg.Athletes in contact sports often have to abstain from food and water for two days before the weigh-in. Boxer Nikhat Zareen mentioned after her defeat in Paris that she had not eaten or drunk any food for two days in order to stay within the weight limit, which had weakened her.
Vinesh was not the only one disqualified in the 50kg class due to weight issues. On Tuesday, Italy’s Emanuela Liuzzi was also forced to abandon her preliminary bout after it was found that she was overweight.
