After Olympian and Congress candidate Vinesh Phogat claimed that the Indian Olympic Association had not supported her amid her appeal against disqualification in the recently held Paris Olmypics, senior advocate Harish Salve has contended Phogat's claims and said that that wrestler had decided not to challenge the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) verdict in her case.
30-year-old Phogat had quit wrestling following her disqualification from the 50kg gold medal match in the Paris Olympics for being overweight by 100 grams ahead of the final.
She had appealed against the decision which was rejected by the CAS, which also rejected her plea for a joint silver medal in the women's 50kg wrestling category.
Salve had acted as Phogat's lawyer on behalf of the national Olympic body.
After the CAS had rejected her appeal, Phogat had claimed that she did not get enough support from the Indian Olympic Association and its chief P T Usha.
Now Salve has come out and said that contrary to what the Olympian has said, there was a lack of coordination during the initial part of the entire legal procedure.
“There was a complete lack of coordination, lack of cohesion for quite some time initially. 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. It was very late by the time we got everything,” Salve told news channel Times Now.
He further told that they fought with everything they had when they finally got the documents for the appeal.
"I even offered the lady that maybe we can challenge it in the Swiss court of appeal against the arbitration award but was told by the lawyers my impression is she didn’t want to carry this any further."
Phogat filed her nomination from the Julana seat earlier this week for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections.
Published 14 September 2024, 16:32 IST