Having recently retired from competitive sports after securing his second consecutive Olympic bronze medal, Sreejesh found it difficult to imagine himself in Vinesh’s situation.He admitted that he was unsure how he would have responded to such a heartbreaking turn of events.
Just a week prior, Vinesh had made history at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to advance to an Olympic final. She had achieved a stunning victory over Yui Susaki of Japan, the world No. 1, in her opening match.
However, on the morning of the gold medal bout, during the routine weigh-in, Vinesh was found to be 100 grams over the weight limit, resulting in her disqualification from the final.
After being disqualified, the 29-year-old took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). She made a plea for a shared silver medal, to be awarded to both herself and Yusneylis Guzman Lopez from Cuba.
Guzman Lopez had been defeated by Vinesh in the semifinal round. However, due to Vinesh’s disqualification, the Cuban wrestler took her place in the final match.
“There are two views, one being an athlete she deserves a medal, getting into the final, they snatched it from her, silver for sure. She was strong. If I was in her situation, I don’t what I would have done,” Sreejesh said at an interaction with PTI editors at its headquarters here on Tuesday.
“The next day before our bronze medal match I met her and she said ‘Bhai good luck, play well’. I felt like she was hiding her pain with that smile. She is a real fighter.”
Sreejesh, 36, and a holder of back-to-back Olympic bronze medals over his impressive 18-year career, believes that Vinesh’s situation should serve as a lesson for all Indian athletes.
“The second part is just different because you have Olympic rules and the Indian athletes know what is happening there and they should be ready for that. They shouldn’t give any chance to the federation, to the organising committee, to the International Olympic Committee (OC).
“So it should be a lesson for everyone. When you are prepared for that you have to be strict with rules and regulations,” he said.
He pointed to the case of Amit Rohidas, who was suspended for raising his stick during the quarter-final match against Great Britain, a game in which India played with just 10 men for 42 minutes.
“Amit Rohidas in the quarterfinal is a case. The rule states that you can’t raise your stick to the backward direction, you can’t lift it that way because intentionally you are hitting someone and it’s a red card and what happened to us we played the semifinal with 15 players and we suffered.”
“So the rules are made to make the game beautiful, controlled.”
The CAS will deliver its highly anticipated verdict on Vinesh’s appeal against her disqualification from the Paris Olympics later on Tuesday night.
“I am keeping my fingers crossed. Being an athlete, I just wish well for her. The way she worked hard, we know what she had been through last one year and from there she is coming back, qualifying for Olympics final, that is answer for all. I really felt bad for her, it’s a tough situation,” Sreejesh said.
