New Delhi: Indian boxing stalwart Vijender Singh has alleged that wrestler Vinesh Phogat's disqualification from the Olympics final might be a case of sabotage as elite athletes like her are well-versed with the techniques of cutting weight before major competitions.
Vijender, who is India's first and only male boxer to have won an Olympic medal, knows a thing or two about maintaining weight before major bouts and he said it is shocking that Vinesh (50kg) was 100gm over in the weigh-in before an Olympic final.
"I think it might be sabotage. 100gm, you have got to be kidding me. We athletes can shed 5 to 6kg overnight. It is difficult no doubt but we know how to control our hunger, and thirst, and exert to the extreme," the middle-weight (75kg) boxer told PTI.
"And when I say sabotage I mean people who are not happy to see India rise as a sporting nation. This girl has been through so much, your heart breaks for her. What more could she have done? Which other test?" he wondered.
Vinesh was the face of a lengthy protest against former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment and intimidation by women wrestlers. She had endured police detention, nights on the streets and a tumultuous qualification process before making it here.
The highlight of her remarkable performance at the Olympics was the opening win over defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan who came into the competition undefeated in her international career.
"I can't believe that Vinesh would make a mistake like this. She has been an elite athlete for so long that she knows, there has to be something more to it. I am worried for her, I hope she is fine. What has happened is not good at all," said Vijender, a trailblazer in Indian boxing.
Athletes who compete in contact sports, where fights are held as per weight categories, have to go through the painful process of staying within their divisions.
It involves going hungry for hours, avoiding even liquids and in some desperate situations, staying huddled inside layers of blankets to sweat out the extra weight.
"There have been times when I have spat out saliva continuously so that nothing goes inside, you know. One can't imagine this extreme exercise. There are special Sauna suits that we wear, they feel like a furnace and there are times we run wearing them to shed weight," he explained.
It's an extraordinary exercise that takes a physical and mental toll on athletes and in 2018, six-time world champion woman boxer M C Mary Kom, in an interview with PTI, revealed how she lost 2kg in a matter of four hours.
Mary Kom had landed in Poland for a tournament, where she eventually picked up her third gold of that year. But hours before she was to take the ring, she had gone through the strenuous process of shedding weight just to be eligible to fight.
"We landed in Poland at around 3-3.30 in the morning and the general weigh-in was at around 7.30 am. I was a couple of kilograms above 48kg, the category I compete in, at that point," she had said.
"So, I had roughly four hours to shed that or I would have been disqualified for being over-weight at the time of general weigh-in. But I skipped for an hour at a stretch and just like that, I was ready.
"Thankfully, the flight we travelled in was nearly empty so I could sleep with my legs outstretched, ensuring that I was not stiff on landing there. Otherwise, I don't know how I would have been able to compete," she had revealed.
