Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s appeal for a shared silver medal after she was disqualified from an Olympic final for missing weight has been rejected by the ad-hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Paris, the court said Wednesday.
The Indian Olympic Association's President, P.T. Usha, expressed shock and disappointment at the court's decision, the Press Trust of India reported.
Phogat was disqualified from the final in the women's 50-kilogram freestyle category after weighing in 100 grams above the weight limit on Aug. 7. Instead of becoming India’s first woman to compete in an Olympic final, she was denied a medal. She appealed, requesting credit for the three wins she earned after weighing in successfully on Aug. 6.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport —- the highest court in sports -— said a judge held a hearing Friday regarding Phogat’s case against United World Wrestling and the International Olympic Committee. The court originally said a decision was expected by the end of the Olympics on Sunday, but it granted arbitrator Annabelle Bennett more time, citing “exceptional circumstances,” and pushed the deadline for a decision to Tuesday.
And then on Tuesday, the Wrestling Federation of India said the court pushed its deadline back to Friday.
Phogat announced Aug. 8 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.”
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.
India’s tally at the Paris Olympics remains at six — one silver and five bronze medals.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
CORRECTS NAME TO VINESH PHOGAT, NOT VINESH VINESH - India's Vinesh Phogat 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)
CORRECTS NAME TO VINESH PHOGAT, NOT VINESH VINESH - India's Vinesh Phogat, 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)
CORRECTS NAME TO VINESH PHOGAT, NOT VINESH VINESH - Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Phogat, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
CORRECTS NAME TO VINESH PHOGAT, NOT VINESH VINESH - India's Vinesh Phogat 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)
NEW DELHI (AP) — Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister widely regarded as the architect of the country’s economic reform program, was cremated after a state funeral on Saturday as politicians and the public mourned his death.
The veteran leader, who was also credited for a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, died late Thursday at age 92.
Singh’s body was taken Saturday morning to the headquarters of his Congress party in New Delhi, where party leaders and activists paid tributes to him and chanted “Manmohan Singh lives forever.”
Abhishek Bishnoi, a party leader, said Singh's death was big loss for the country. “He used to speak little, but his talent and his actions spoke louder than his words,” he said.
Later, Singh’s body was transported to a crematorium ground for his last rites as soldiers beat drums.
Government officials, politicians and family members paid their last respects to Singh, whose casket was adorned with flowers and wrapped in the Indian flag. Security personnel honored him with a ceremonial gun salute.
Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called Singh one of the country's “most distinguished leaders,” and several Cabinet ministers participated in the funeral ceremony.
Singh’s body was then transferred to a pyre as religious hymns played and cremated.
Authorities declared a seven-day mourning period and canceled all cultural and entertainment events during that time. Government buildings across India are flying the national flag at half-staff.
A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh was prime minister for 10 years and leader of the Congress party in Parliament’s upper house, earning a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. He was chosen to be prime minister in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Singh was reelected in 2009, but his second term was clouded by financial scandals and corruption charges over the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to the Congress party’s crushing defeat in 2014 national elections by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Singh adopted a low profile after relinquishing the post of prime minister.
As finance minister, Singh in 1991 instituted reforms that moved India away from a socialist-patterned economy and toward a capitalist model in the face of a huge balance of payments deficit, skirting a potential economic crisis.
Singh was the first Sikh to hold the country’s top post and made a public apology in Parliament for the 1984 Sikh Massacre in which some 3,000 Sikhs were killed after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
In a move hailed as one of his biggest achievements apart from economic reforms, Singh ended India’s nuclear isolation by signing a deal with the U.S. that gave India access to American nuclear technology.
But the deal hurt his coalition government, with Communist allies withdrawing their support and criticism of the agreement growing within India in 2008 when it was finalized.
Gursharan Kaur, second left, wife of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, prays next to the casket of her late husband to pay her tributes at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge touches the casket of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pay his tributes at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge, left, and senior leader Sonia Gandhi are helped by an aide to place a flag on the casket of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at their party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
Gursharan Kaur, center right, wife of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sits with others next to the casket of her late husband at Congress party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
Congress Party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra touches the casket of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pay her tributes at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
Gursharan Kaur, right, wife of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sits with others next to the casket of her late husband at Congress party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
Security officials and others walk with the hearse carrying the body of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh towards the cremation site in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
FILE - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greets the crowd during an election campaign rally at Khumtai, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, Saturday, March 29, 2014. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)
Security officials and others walk with the hearse carrying the body of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh towards the cremation site in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
