Having just lately retired from aggressive sports activities after securing his second consecutive Olympic bronze medal, Sreejesh discovered it troublesome to think about himself in Vinesh’s scenario.He admitted that he was uncertain how he would have responded to such a heartbreaking flip of occasions.
Only a week prior, Vinesh had made historical past on the Paris Olympics by turning into the primary Indian girl wrestler to advance to an Olympic remaining. She had achieved a shocking victory over Yui Susaki of Japan, the world No. 1, in her opening match.
Nonetheless, on the morning of the gold medal bout, in the course of the routine weigh-in, Vinesh was discovered to be 100 grams over the burden restrict, leading to her disqualification from the ultimate.
After being disqualified, the 29-year-old took her case to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). She made a plea for a shared silver medal, to be awarded to each herself and Yusneylis Guzman Lopez from Cuba.
Guzman Lopez had been defeated by Vinesh within the semifinal spherical. Nonetheless, attributable to Vinesh’s disqualification, the Cuban wrestler took her place within the remaining match.
“There are two views, one being an athlete she deserves a medal, entering into the ultimate, they snatched it from her, silver for certain. She was robust. If I used to be in her scenario, I do not what I might have completed,” Sreejesh stated at an interplay with PTI editors at its headquarters right here on Tuesday.
“The subsequent day earlier than our bronze medal match I met her and he or she stated ‘Bhai good luck, play properly’. I felt like she was hiding her ache with that smile. She is an actual fighter.”
Sreejesh, 36, and a holder of back-to-back Olympic bronze medals over his spectacular 18-year profession, believes that Vinesh’s scenario ought to function a lesson for all Indian athletes.
“The second half is simply totally different as a result of you’ve got Olympic guidelines and the Indian athletes know what is occurring there and they need to be prepared for that. They should not give any likelihood to the federation, to the organising committee, to the Worldwide Olympic Committee (OC).
“So it must be a lesson for everybody. When you’re ready for that it’s important to be strict with guidelines and laws,” he stated.
He pointed to the case of Amit Rohidas, who was suspended for elevating his stick in the course of the quarter-final match towards Nice Britain, a sport during which India performed with simply 10 males for 42 minutes.
“Amit Rohidas within the quarterfinal is a case. The rule states which you could’t increase your keep on with the backward path, you’ll be able to’t raise it that means as a result of deliberately you might be hitting somebody and it is a crimson card and what occurred to us we performed the semifinal with 15 gamers and we suffered.”
“So the principles are made to make the sport stunning, managed.”
The CAS will ship its extremely anticipated verdict on Vinesh’s attraction towards her disqualification from the Paris Olympics afterward Tuesday evening.
“I’m preserving my fingers crossed. Being an athlete, I simply want properly for her. The way in which she labored arduous, we all know what she had been by final one 12 months and from there she is coming again, qualifying for Olympics remaining, that’s reply for all. I actually felt dangerous for her, it is a powerful scenario,” Sreejesh stated.
