Vinesh Phogat is still waiting. Decision on Indian wrestler's appeal pushed back again

Vinesh Phogat is still waiting.

A decision on the Indian wrestler’s appeal for a shared silver medal after she was disqualified from an Olympic final for missing weight has been postponed a second time and won't come until Friday, the Wrestling Federation of India said Tuesday.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport — sport's highest court — said a judge in Paris held a hearing last Friday regarding Phogat's case against United World Wrestling and the International Olympic Committee. The CAS originally said a decision was expected by the end of the Olympics on Sunday, but the CAS granted arbitrator Annabelle Bennett more time, citing “exceptional circumstances," and pushed the deadline for a decision to Tuesday.

The federation said Tuesday the CAS has pushed its deadline back again as the wrestling-crazy nation of 1.4 billion waits.

Phogat was disqualified from the 50-kilogram women's freestyle class after weighing in at 100 grams above the limit last Wednesday. Instead of becoming India’s first woman to compete in an Olympic wrestling final, she was denied a medal. She appealed, requesting credit for the three wins she earned after weighing in successfully a day earlier.

The situation brought to light concerns about the dangers of weight cutting. The Olympics have only six weight classes, instead of 10 for other international competitions.

Phogat announced last Thursday on social media that she would retire from the sport. The post, written in Hindi, translates as: “My courage is broken, I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye Wrestling, 2001-2024.”

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

India's Vinesh Vinesh and Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman, right, compete during their women's freestyle 50kg wrestling semifinal match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

India's Vinesh Vinesh and Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman, left, compete during their women's freestyle 50kg wrestling semifinal match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

India's Vinesh Vinesh, right, celebrates after defeating Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman compete during their women's freestyle 50kg wrestling semifinal match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Vinesh Phogat is still waiting. Decision on Indian wrestler's appeal pushed back again

Vinesh Phogat is still waiting. Decision on Indian wrestler's appeal pushed back again

India's Vinesh Vinesh celebrates after defeating Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman during their women's freestyle 50kg wrestling semifinal match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As Tropical Storm Francine barreled toward the Louisiana coast Tuesday, residents made last-minute preparations, including filling sandbags, buying gasoline and stocking up on necessities to face a storm that's expected to strengthen into a hurricane before reaching land.

Residents, especially in south Louisiana, have a 24-hour window to “batten down all the hatches,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said midday Tuesday. Forecasters said Francine’s landfall was expected Wednesday afternoon or evening as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 to 110 mph (155 to 175 kph) and strong storm surge.

Lifelong New Orleans resident Roxanne Riley, 42, gathered water, snacks and other food from a Walmart and said she planned to stay at a family member’s house on high ground to avoid flooding. But she was ready to evacuate if things got worse.

“It’s very frustrating every time a storm comes in,” Riley said. “I’ll just make sure my car is ready to roll in case I need to go by tomorrow. I’m going to keep on checking to see what it’s looking like.”

A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast from Cameron eastward to Grand Isle, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center. A storm surge warning stretched from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the Alabama-Florida border Such a warning means there’s a chance of life-threatening flooding.

When the storm does make landfall, Landry urged residents to stay in place rather than venturing out onto the roads and risk blocking first responders or utility crews working to repair power lines.

By late Tuesday afternoon, Francine was still a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the hurricane center. The system was located about 360 miles (580 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and was moving northeast at 10 mph (17 kph).

The storm is moving over extremely warm Gulf waters that serve as fuel to strengthen it. Water temperatures are about 87 degrees (31 degrees Celsius) where Francine is located, said Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science.

“The ocean heat content averaged over the entire Gulf is the highest it’s been on record for the date," McNoldy wrote on his blog.

Still, the system encountered some drier air as it moved to the north, possibly reducing the rate at which the storm intensified, forecasters said. But it is expected to reach hurricane strength anyway.

In downtown New Orleans, cars and trucks were lined up for blocks to collect sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA, whose CEO Erika Mann said Tuesday that 1,000 bags of sand had already been distributed by volunteers.

“I love that these are community people that came out,” Mann said. “It’s a beautiful effort to do what we do in New Orleans, we’re resilient and we come together to help in the times we need each other.”

One resident picking up sandbags was Wayne Grant, 33, who moved to New Orleans last year and was nervous for his first potential hurricane in the city. The low-lying rental apartment he shares with his partner had already flooded out in a storm the year before and he was not taking any chances this time around.

“It was like a kick in the face, we’ve been trying to stay up on the weather ever since,” Grant said. “We’re super invested in the place, even though it’s not ours.”

A little over three years after Hurricane Ida trashed his home in the Dulac community of coastal Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish – and about a month after he finished rebuilding – Coy Verdin was preparing for another hurricane.

“We had to gut the whole house,” he recalled in a telephone interview, rattling off a memorized inventory of the work, including a new roof and new windows.

Verdin, 55, strongly considered moving farther inland, away from the home where he makes his living on nearby Bayou Grand Caillou. After rebuilding, he said he’s there to stay.

“As long as I can. It’s getting rough, though,” he said. He was preparing to head north to ride out Francine with his daughter in Thibodaux, about a 50-minute drive away. “I don’t want to go too far so I can come back to check on my house.”

Landry said the Louisiana National Guard is being deployed to parishes that could be impacted by Francine. They are equipped with food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including possible search-and-rescue operations.

Francine is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. There’s a danger of life-threatening storm surge as well as damaging, life-threatening hurricane-force winds, said Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane center.

There’s also the potential for 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with the possibility of 12 inches (30 centimeters) locally across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning, Reinhart said. That heavy rainfall could also cause considerable flash and urban flooding.

Francine is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of storm destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps.

Francine's storm surge on the Louisiana coast could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said.

“It’s a potential for significantly dangerous, life-threatening inundation,” said Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center, adding it could also send “dangerous, damaging winds quite far inland."

He said landfall was likely somewhere between Sabine Pass — on the Texas-Louisiana line — and Morgan City, Louisiana, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) to the east.

A mandatory evacuation was ordered for seven remote coastal communities by Cameron Parish officials. They include Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch dubbed Louisiana’s “Cajun Riviera,” where many homes sit on stilts. The storm-battered town has been a low-cost paradise for oil industry workers, families and retirees, rebuilt multiple times after past hurricanes.

In Grand Isle, Louisiana’s last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle recommended residents evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for those in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the city three years ago, destroying 700 homes.

In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare to shelter in place. “Now is the time to finalize your storm plans and prepare, not only for your families but looking out for your neighbors,” she said.

City officials said they were expecting up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) inches of rain, gusty winds and “isolated tornado activity” with the most intense weather likely to reach New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday.

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, Kevin McGill and Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed to this story.

A message aimed at The Weather Channel's meteorologist Jim Cantore is displayed on the message board at the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway near New Orleans as the region prepares for Tropical Storm Francine Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Ronell King, 32, unhoused, plans to hunker down in his tent under an overpass Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in New Orleans, rather than go to an emergency shelter set up by the city. (AP/Jack Brook)

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 2:21 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Francine in the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 10 2024. (NOAA via AP)

Residents fill up sand bags to protect their homes in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, at a distribution site in a parking lot in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

Delwyn Bodden, a worker for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West climbs a ladder up a floodgate to lock it closed along the Harvey Canal, just outside the New Orleans city limits, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A workers from the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West locks a floodgates closed along the Harvey Canal, just outside the New Orleans city limits, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Workers from the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West close floodgates along the Harvey Canal, just outside the New Orleans city limits, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A worker from the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West tightens turnbuckles as they close floodgates along the Harvey Canal, just outside the New Orleans city limits, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Workers from the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West tighten turnbuckles as they close floodgates along the Harvey Canal, just outside the New Orleans city limits, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Cars drive through rain bands along Peter Rd., just outside New Orleans, ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Workers from the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West close floodgates along the Harvey Canal, just outside the New Orleans city limits, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Hertz Tower, which was heavily damaged after Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020, is imploded in Lake Charles, La., Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

An flag is taken down off a pole as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Francine along the Louisiana coast on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Lafitte, La. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Weather begins to form from Tropical Storm Francine on the Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)

The windows of a raised historic house are boarded up as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Francine along the Louisiana coast on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Lafitte, La. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Weather begins to form from Tropical Storm Francine on the Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)

Crabbers move their traps to inside the levy protection system ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in lower St. Bernard Parish, La. (David Grunfeld/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Tuff Gary, left, and Morgan LeBlanc with their children Hudson, Tuff, Jr., and Zander, of Jenning, La., watch the implosion of the Hertz Tower, that was heavily damaged after Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020 in Lake Charles, La., Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

St. Bernard Parish residents fill sandbags in the old Kmart/Sears parking lot ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Chalmette, La. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Crabbers move their traps to inside the levy protection system ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in lower St. Bernard Parish, La. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Bubby Longo fills sandbags in the old Kmart/Sears parking lot ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Chalmette, La. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Shoppers in a suburb of New Orleans gather food supplies at a grocery store, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

Steve Pete filled up gas containers to give to neighbors and the elderly if they need it ahead of Tropical Storm Francine in Violet, La. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

James C. McKenzie, left and Kelly Blanchard cover an electronic sign with plywood ahead of Tropical Storm Francine Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Chalmette, La.. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Bubby Longo fills sandbags in the old Kmart/Sears parking lot ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Chalmette, La. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Weather begins to form from Tropical Storm Francine on the Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)

Norman Bouisse, 76, left, and Jeremy Adam, back left, one of the captains for the 100-foot trawler Master Brandon, work at tying extra lines around a piling in their attempt to batten down their boat in anticipation of Hurricane Francine along the Louisiana coast in Lafitte on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

The windows of a raised historic house are boarded up as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Francine along the Louisiana coast on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Lafitte, La. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)