100 Grams

 

100 grams, oh my God that was what did her in finally. I am sure most of you are aware of this weight fiasco which Vinesh Phogat, the lioness of a wrestler had to face and in the bargain end up being disqualified. Reminds me of that famous dialogue "Ek chutki sindoor ki kimat tum kya jano.." from Shahrukh starrer "Om Shanti Om". Vinesh would be asking the same question, "Ek 100 grams ki kimat tum kya jano..!"Wonder why didn't her staff include some of our sabji-wallas or street vendors who would have tilted the scales by upto 500 grams without even batting an eyelid and no one would have been the wiser. I am not sure how many of you have encountered these experts who can tamper with any scale to make the vegetable weigh more or less as per their convenience, but let me assure you there are plenty in every city displaying this skill of hoodwinking the customers. The moment our team had got wind of this tricky situation they should have immediately pressed these guys into service, if required they should have been flown in a private jet to Paris, as they would have saved the day for us. After all it was the only Silver/Gold for our country so far, which was at stake. Alternately we could have demanded a collective weighing-in like they resort to during flights as they weigh the luggage of the complete group if they are travelling by the same ticket. I am sure the other wrestlers would have been able to balance things out. For just this piddly 100 grams, the medal was lost.

Weighing-in is a ritual whose sanctity is recognised by those who have been associated with Boxing and Wrestling. In the training academies, most of us have had to bear this brunt sometime or the other, sometimes even to gain weight but generally to lose some. As fighting in a lower weight category has its obvious advantages, but at times since there is a void in the higher category and fielding a player is a must to avoid losing out on points, some have to be force fed to gain those those precious grams. In the academies there were set drills for losing weight, we would put on a couple of jerseys and go for a run to sweat out, invariably that was adequate. But at times, when this did not suffice, 'blanket parade' too was resorted to, where the contender was wrapped in a couple of blankets and a couple of hits with hockey sticks  ensured that additional water content  present in the body  also pored out in sweat. Precisely what Vinesh and her team tried in more sophisticated way in sauna suits.

Weight management is an important part of our annual medical examinations too, where the Medical Specialists are known to extract their pound of flesh from the over weight or obese officers. While they would not mind parting with a pound of flesh literally, if it got them off the hook, but alas this doesn't happen and they are forced to undergo a strict diet regimen in the grace period to somehow creep into the permissible  authorised weight.  I am blessed by my constitution, no not the Ambedkar constitution, which some people have suddenly woken upto, but my body constitution, and I have my genes to be thankful to for this blessing, as I have perpetually been in the permissible underweight category. But I have witnessed many a tigers being reduced to the status of a lamb while trying to scale the scale itself. 

Getting back to the mother of all weighing-ins, despite the best efforts of Vinesh and her support staff, a mere 100 grams became a bridge too far for her. Funnily the World Wrestling body permits a relaxation of upto two kgs, but IOC does not provide any such relaxation in the rules. I wonder what if she was merely 10 grams overweight, would she have been still disqualified; is there no relaxation whatsoever? A hundred grams in 50 kgs is just 0.2 percent, now this precision, while highly desirable but practically is a tall order. Forget the conspiracy theorists and the social media troll army, she did succeed in dethroning the current world champion and winning three back to back bouts.  She definitely deserves to be given her due. So let us celebrate the sheer grit and effort displayed by her, that itself is worth a medal.