Harish Salve dismisses Vinesh Phogat's ‘no support’ claim during Paris Olympics, says ‘wrestler did not want to challenge...’

Senior advocate Harish Salve has debunked wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s claims of ‘no support’ during her Olympic ordeal. The senior lawyer said that Phogat did not want to challenge the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which disqualified her from the final bout. 

In an interview with Times Now, Salve said that Phogat had not wanted to challenge the decision taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) even though he had offered. 

“Later on, we got everything and we fought hard. In fact, I even offered the lady that maybe we can challenge it in the Swiss court of appeal against the arbitration award but I was told by the lawyers that my impression is she didn’t want to carry this any further,” the lawyer said. 

The senior advocate also clarified that there was a lack of coordination on the end of Vinesh Phogat’s lawyers. 

“That’s because the very good law firm, which had been engaged by the Indian Olympic Association was told by some lawyers, who the athlete had engaged that ‘we will not share anything with you, we will not give anything to you,” he added. 

Former wrestler Vinesh Phogat had accused the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha for not providing enough support during her tragic journey at the Paris Olympics 2024 and accused the IOA President of just clicking pictures with her. Notably, Phogat became the first Indian woman to qualify for the wrestling final at the Games. 

A day after her disqualification from the Games, Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling. She ventured into politics last week having recently joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

Wrestler-turned-politician and Congress candidate for Haryana Assembly polls Vinesh Phogat filed her nomination from the Julana seat on September 11 and appealed to people for their support so that her party could form a government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda's leadership. 

Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest last year against then Wrestling Federation of India chief and former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, recently joined the Congress.