NEW DELHI: Veteran Indian boxer Vijender Singh has claimed that because top athletes like her are accustomed to losing weight before important contests, it is possible that weightlifter Vinesh Phogat was sabotaged when he was disqualified from the Olympics final.
Being the first and only male boxer from India to win an Olympic medal, Vijender is well-versed in the importance of maintaining weight before important matches.According to him, it is astonishing that Vinesh (weighing 50 kg) was 100 grams overweight during the weigh-in prior to 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, 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.
Women wrestlers have accused former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and intimidation, and Vinesh was the face of a protracted protest against him. Before arriving in Paris, she had to go through a chaotic certification process, nights spent on the streets, and police incarceration.
Her opening victory over Japan’s Yui Susaki, the reigning champion who had never lost an international match, was the pinnacle of her incredible Olympic campaign.
“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.
Competitors in contact sports, whose battles are arranged according to weight divisions, must endure the arduous task of remaining inside their respective divisions.
It entails starving yourself for hours on end, abstaining from all drinks, and, in extreme cases, staying curled up under many layers of blankets to perspire out excess 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 intense workout that strains athletes’ bodies and minds. In an interview with PTI in 2018, six-time world champion female boxer MC Mary Kom shared her story of losing two kilograms in only four hours.
Mary Kom arrived in Poland for a competition, where she went on to win her third gold medal of the year. But in order to be eligible to fight, she had to undergo the arduous process of losing weight hours before she was to get into the ring.
“We landed in Poland at round 3-3:30 in the morning and the general weigh-in was at around 7:30am. 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 did skipping 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.
Being the first and only male boxer from India to win an Olympic medal, Vijender is well-versed in the importance of maintaining weight before important matches.According to him, it is astonishing that Vinesh (weighing 50 kg) was 100 grams overweight during the weigh-in prior to 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, 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.
Women wrestlers have accused former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and intimidation, and Vinesh was the face of a protracted protest against him. Before arriving in Paris, she had to go through a chaotic certification process, nights spent on the streets, and police incarceration.
Her opening victory over Japan’s Yui Susaki, the reigning champion who had never lost an international match, was the pinnacle of her incredible Olympic campaign.
“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.
Competitors in contact sports, whose battles are arranged according to weight divisions, must endure the arduous task of remaining inside their respective divisions.
It entails starving yourself for hours on end, abstaining from all drinks, and, in extreme cases, staying curled up under many layers of blankets to perspire out excess 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 intense workout that strains athletes’ bodies and minds. In an interview with PTI in 2018, six-time world champion female boxer MC Mary Kom shared her story of losing two kilograms in only four hours.
Mary Kom arrived in Poland for a competition, where she went on to win her third gold medal of the year. But in order to be eligible to fight, she had to undergo the arduous process of losing weight hours before she was to get into the ring.
“We landed in Poland at round 3-3:30 in the morning and the general weigh-in was at around 7:30am. 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 did skipping 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.
