India woke up on the morning of 7 August to yet another Olympic heartbreak. After losing a scintillating and well fought Hockey semi final to a clinical German team, hopes rested on Vinesh Phogat, who scripted history by become the first Indian Female Wrestler to make the Finals of Olympic Wrestling.

Her performances on her way to the final bout was nothing short of brilliant, as she beat the World no. 1 and contemporaries of scale in her endeavor, even brushing aside her Cuban semi final challenge 5-0.

However destiny has something else in store for her and for the millions of fans in India and abroad who were rooting for her to bring home an Olympic Gold. She was disqualified for being overweight, as per media reports, by 100gm. Phogat was competing in the 50kg weight category and usually she does so in the 53kg weight category. During the mandatory 15 minutes weight-in on the morning of the final bout, she weighed 100gm extra, pointing her out for disqualification from the finals and dragged down to last rank in the list. She will also come home without a medal.

Suggesting that this could be conspiracy for Vinesh Phogat, Congress MP Balwant Wankhede claimed that Vinesh got disqualified over her protest against former BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh. Vinesh was the face of the protest against the mistreatment of female wrestlers by BJP MP Brijbhushan, who was also the Secretary of the Wrestling Federation. While the protest at Jantar Mantar saw her being dragged away by security personnel, this same Vinesh has come back from surgery and a lot of other setbacks, to claim a berth in the finals of the 50kg Wrestling category at the Olympics. Her protests did not get her justice, but the BJP did not field Brij for the Lok Sabha elections, but fielded his son instead, who won the seat.

Congress MP Balwant suggested that if Phogat has taken part in the final match, she would have won either old or Silver, and deserved a government honor and mention. This would have put the ruling party in a cumbersome position as some members of the party would not have liked it, added the Congress MP as per media reports.

Shashi Tharoor, in his comments as per ANI, said that the support staff was found wanting in terms of ensuring all the vital checks were in place. He also expressed regret that Vinesh did not get the reward that her efforts and performance justified.

Opinion: There is a possibility of failure or deliberate failure of the support system that was around Vinesh when she went to participate at the Olympics. While the Olympic selection committe had selected Vinesh on her professional credentials, not many in the governing body of the sport or government would have thought that this champion would go all the way and that too, with flying colors. It is a possiblity that the only option left was to nip it in the bud. Afterall, does the support team not have all the checks in place before sending the athelete to the final official medical checkup and weigh-in.