Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Maharashtra): India's first-ever Paralympic gold medalist and Padma Shri awardee Murlikant Petkar opined that it was Vinesh Phogat and her coach's responsibility to constantly check her weight during the Paris Olympics 2024.
Vinesh was disqualified from the women's 50 kg wrestling event at the Paris Games after being found 100 grams overweight than the prescribed weight on the morning of the gold medal bout. Following the incident, she had appealed to the Court for Arbitration of Sports (CAS) to award her a joint silver medal which the court eventually dismissed on August 14 with a single-line statement.
Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Petkar said, "It was Vinesh Phogat and her coach's job to ensure her weight remains in the prescribed weigh-in during the Paris Games and hence they are responsible for what happened there. It is wrong to blame anyone else."
"It is the job of the media to give publicity to the players when they are becoming the stars. It's unnecessary to produce a movie to help people notice athletes every time and to bring the information to the world," he added.
Petkar, who became the first Indian Paralympic athlete to clinch a gold, expressed full confidence that the country will perform well in competitions in Paris. Having only good players in the contingent would not work, but you need good coaches as well, something which India lacked in the recent Olympic Games.
Following the conclusion of the Olympics, the Paris Paralympic Games has been started on August 28.
"However, India might do well in the Paralympic competitions. The movie - 'Chandu Champion' which was filmed on me was displayed to the Indian contingent after its release and the players were inspired by seeing the struggle in it. Hence, I have a huge belief that we will win maximum medals," said Petkar.
The 79-year-old also emphasized on the point that he felt distressed after India fell to clinch at least one gold in the recently concluded Paris Olympics. "I was distressed with India's performance as a country with a population of 140 crores failed to bag atleast a single gold at the Olympics," expressed the opinion of Padmashri Murlikant Petkar.
"The state of the game is improving in the country. Arrangements are being made at many places. However, the situation in the country is that where there are facilities, there are no players and where there are players, there are no facilities. You might find good players from rural areas, especially in tribal areas. But there is no such facility. There are more agile children in villages, so efforts should be made to give priority to sports in small villages and not just in cities," added Petkar.
