The president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), PT Usha, has stated that the coach and support staff of the grappler should bear the responsibility for Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the women’s 50 kg final event at the Olympics in Paris, rather than the IOA’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala.
In a statement issued on Sunday, IOA highlighted that each athlete and their own coaching team bears primary responsibility for managing their weight in sports like boxing, judo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
“PT Usha, President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has made it clear that it is the individual athlete’s and his or her coach’s responsibility to manage their weight in sports like weightlifting, boxing, judo, and wrestling, rather than the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala and his staff, who was appointed by the IOA.”
Usha went on to say that Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, the Chief Medical Officer chosen by the IOA, and his staff were brought on board a few months before to the Games. Their main responsibility was to help athletes recover from injuries and manage them both during and after games. Furthermore, the IOA medical team was created to assist athletes who lacked access to a private team of physiotherapists and nutritionists.
A few months ago, the IOA formed a medical team, whose main responsibility was to help players heal and manage injuries both during and after competition. Additionally, this squad was created to assist athletes without access to a personal team of physiotherapists and nutritionists. Hatred aimed against the IOA medical staff, particularly at Dr. Pardiwala, is intolerable and needs to be denounced. The statement stated, “She hoped that anyone making snap judgements about the IOA medical team would weigh all the information before drawing any decisions.
After going over the weight limit for her 50kg wrestling class, Vinesh was disqualified before the final round, meaning she was unable to compete for the gold medal. She later filed an appeal with the CAS challenging her disqualification from the Olympics and requested a shared silver medal in the 50 kg weight class.