Paris Olympics: PT Usha, CMO give medical update after meeting Vinesh Phogat

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P.T. Usha, contingent's Chief Medical Officer Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, Chef De Mission Gagan Narang and others gathered here on Wednesday to address the situation regarding Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris Olympics.

Usha took the time out of her busy schedule to visit the recovering Phogat who spent the entire night trying her best to shake off the 2.7 kg she required to reduce to meet the limit of the 50 kg women’s freestyle.

“I am shocked and disappointed. I came here to meet Vinesh; she is physically and medically okay but mentally disappointed. Our support staff were there all night to bring her weight down from 52.7 kg to 50kg. The doctors have not slept and have done their level best for Vinesh,” the IOA President told reporters.

Vinesh had defeated Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the semifinals and had become the first Indian woman to reach the final of a wrestling event at the Olympics. But she failed to meet the weight requirement on Wednesday morning and her disqualification has since resulted in the Cuban replacing the Indian wrestler in the women's 50 kg freestyle final that will take place on Wednesday.

Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala provided the media with an explanation of the process of nutrition that takes place for an athlete before a bout and how ‘it is a fine balance.’

“It was a calculated restriction of food and water. We involve a lot of excessive sweating which is done with exercise, sauna and steam thereby we achieved the weight cut in the morning. The weight cut causes weakness and energy depletion which is really counterproductive. Hence for participation, we need to restore energy with some amounts of water and energy foods. It is a fine balance,” said Dr Pardiwala.

Despite spending the entire night in the hope of losing excessive weight, Phogat is recovering quite well and all her reports came back normal. The 29-year-old was also given IV fluids in an attempt to rehydrate her from the vigorous night she suffered in her bid to make the weight.

“Once she was disqualified then as a precautionary measure we had to rehydrate her. The best way to rehydrate an athlete is through Intravenous (IV) fluids. She started eating and drinking, she is perfectly normal physically and medically. We got her blood tests done as a routine which came back clear,” he added.