Paris Olympics: Second chance to glory! THIS wrestler to fight for gold after Vinesh Phogat's disqualification

It is rightly said that someone's loss is someone else's gain. Vinesh Phogat got disqualified for being overweight ahead of her gold medal match in the women's 50kg freestyle wrestling final at Paris Olympics 2024 edition on Wednesday (Aug 7). With her exit, the Paris Games organising committee released a statement revealing that Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinal bout, will now compete against USA's Sarah Hildebrandt in the gold medal face-off, later on Wednesday.

In a statement, the committee said, "Vinesh failed the second-day weigh-in. According to Article 11 of the International Wrestling Rules, Vinesh (IND) will be replaced by the wrestler who lost against her in the Semifinal. Therefore, Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (CUB) will compete in the Final. Repechage Yui Susaki (Japan) vs Oksana Livach (Ukraine) will become the Bronze Medal Match."Earlier, it was reported that the 50kg category will only have gold and bronze medal winners.

Talking about Vinesh, the star wrestler -- who became the first Indian woman to reachthe final of a wrestling eventat the Olympics -- was found to beweighing marginally over the permissible limitand she now returns home empty-handed. On Tuesday (Aug 6), she defeated Guzman in the semifinal bout and was assured of a medal, however, things took a drastic turn thereafter.

VINESH PHOGAT IN PARIS 2024

Vinesh usually competes in the 53kg category. This time around, she appeared in the 50kg category and looked set to bag the gold. She defeatedJapanese wrestler Yui Susaki in the pre-quarters -- whonever lost a bout in her international career and is a four-time wrestling world champion-- before going pastUkraine'sOksana Livach to reach the semifinals, where she defeatedCuba'sGuzman. However, her exit has benefitted all her recent opponents.

The gold medal match in the 50kg category will take place later in the day, at 11:23 pm(IST).