Supreme Court of India lawyer Harish Salve, who represented Vinesh Phogat’s plea for a joint silver medal at Paris 2024, revealed that the three-time Olympian refused to counter the verdict after it was dismissed by the CAS.
For the unversed, the two-time World Championships bronze medallist was disqualified ahead of the final, for failing to meet her weight by a little over 100 gms. The premier Indian wrestler and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had appealed to the CAS for a joint silver medal alongside Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman.
“Later on, we got everything and we fought hard. In fact, I even offered that lady that maybe we can challenge it in the Swiss court of appeal against the arbitration award but I was told by the lawyers that my impression is she didn’t want to carry this any further,” Salve told TimesNow.
The Former Solicitor General of India also revealed that there was no engagement by the IOA as they had handed over all the information to the representing law firm very late.
“There was a complete lack of coordination, lack of cohesion for quite some time initially. That’s because the very good law firm which had been engaged by the Indian Olympic Association was told by some lawyers who the athlete had engaged that ‘we will not share anything with you, we will not give anything to you. It was very late we got everything”.
The Sole Arbitrator of the highest sporting court Annabelle Bennett mentioned that the consequences of the failed second weigh-in are draconian although there were no illegal acts involved in the matter, additionally, mentioning the factors explained by the applicant for the plea.
