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Vinesh Phogat’s appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is set to begin around 9:30 am Paris time (1 pm IST) on August 9, with an interim verdict anticipated an hour later. 

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appointed senior advocate Harish Salve to represent them and Vinesh at the CAS.

 
The IOA argues that the 100-gram “excess weight was negligible” and likely resulted from “bloating” or other natural causes rather than providing a competitive advantage.

The legal statement reads, "The excess of 100g is extremely negligible (representing around 0.1 to 0.2% of the athlete’s weight) and can easily be caused by the bloating of a human body during summer weather, as the heat makes the human body retain more water, scientifically for survival purposes.”

The statement continued, “It can also be due to muscle mass increase as the athlete competed three times on the same day. It can also be caused by the food consumption of the athlete after the competitions to sustain her health and integrity for the demanding competitions.”

Further the statement had, “The conditions under which she “regained” weight after her first fights clearly show that this was not a case of excess weight providing any advantage whatsoever, but merely the implementation of a classic and essential recovery process. 

“Finally, it should be remembered that the CAS must uphold the fundamental rights of athletes, including the right to respect for their physical integrity," the legal statement read.

The interim verdict can be expected an hour later, CAS acknowledging the merit in Vinesh’s plea for a joint silver medal is a major shot in the arm for Phogat and IOA. 

Vinesh was disqualified from her gold-medal bout at the Paris 2024 Olympics after failing the weigh-in process by 100 grams, despite being the first Indian female wrestler to reach an Olympic final.

The disqualification occurred just hours before her match against Sarah Ann Hildebrandt from the USA. Her first appeal to contest the disqualification was denied, but her second appeal for a joint-silver medal has been accepted.