In her Olympic debut, Antim Panghal suffered a humiliating 0-10 loss to Zeynep Yetgil of Turkey.
It has left the Indian camp panicked after Vinesh Phogat’s cruel experience at the Paris Olympics. Aman Sehrawat, who won bronze for India in the men’s 57kg category on Friday, lost close to five kilograms just 10 hours before his medal match. According to a new report, Antim Panghal passed the weigh-in with a severe route before her opening match.
As one of India’s medal prospects in wrestling, Panghal made the Paris Games cut after Vinesh, who normally competes in the 53kg freestyle category for women, failed to attend the World Championship for protesting against the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). In her opening match on Wednesday, Panghal lost humiliatingly by 0-10 to Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgil.
It was revealed on Saturday that Panghal starved herself for 48 hours to make the weigh-in cut. She didn’t eat anything and only drank a minimal amount of water, leaving her weak and dehydrated.
During the weigh-in, Panghal found herself overweight. Despite traveling to Paris with her sister, her dietician, Nisha, who was not officially part of the Indian contingent, she could not enter the Olympic village, leaving Panghal to handle things on her own. During the first match, she was left with no energy since she starved for two days straight.
Prior to the women’s 50kg freestyle final, Vinesh had been disqualified for being overweight during the weigh-in. Her weight was 100 grams over the permitted limit and she was thus disqualified from the final and denied any medal after becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final at an Olympics on Tuesday.
Although a heartbroken Vinesh announced her retirement from the sport shortly after, she later appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by her side, for a joint silver medal. In the virtual meeting, which was attended virtually by Vinesh and senior counsel Harish Salve and Vidushpat Singhania, she presented her side of the argument.
