Don't insult her by shouting 'conspiracy!'

Heartbreak comes in many forms in the heartbreak-or-make arena of competitive sports. Worse than the kind that accompanies a loss is when a sportsperson is disqualified on a technicality. Less than 24 hours before India was celebrating Vinesh Phogat reaching the women's 50 kg wrestling final at the Paris Olympics, 'assured of a medal' by beating Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman, a nation was gut-wrenched on hearing the news of her disqualification from Wednesday's final against Sarah Hildebrandt of the US for weighing over the permissible limit of 50 kg by 100 gm. To be out of the reckoning for gold because of being over the maximum stipulated weight by the equivalent heaviness of a box of 100 paper clips - Phogat reportedly even took the measure of cutting her hair - is harrowing. But the fact of the matter is that she was found, after being officially weighed at the stipulated time before the bout, transgressing an agreed-upon rule. This is something Phogat herself will come to terms with.

For the likes of Akhilesh Yadav to suspect conspiracy - he demanded a 'thorough investigation into the technical reasons' behind Phogat's disqualification, adding that 'the truth and the real reason behind it should come to the fore' - is not just sad but embarrassing. Phogat's ordeal during her fight against the since-then suspended Wrestling Federation of India is all too well-known. It was certainly part of Tuesday's celebratory narrative of poetic justice. That this aspect of Phogat reaching the final stands scratched out should not take anything away from her tremendous journey in Paris till Wednesday. Equally, neither should it raise suspicions regarding a conspiracy.

That some members of Phogat's family have reportedly said that there is 'clearly a conspiracy done by people sitting at the top' is understandable. They are upset. But for outsiders, especially those who wish to pin this tragedy on to some convoluted political mat, to do the same is shameful. Phogat is a winner even after Wednesday's misfortune. She deserves better.