Can Harish Salve help Vinesh Phogat get Olympic silver? Who is he?

When Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat appears before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) today (August 9) in her appeal against her disqualification from the Paris Olympics for being overweight, she will have one of India’s most renowned lawyers,
Harish Salve, in her corner.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) moved CAS, the highest international tribunal dedicated to resolving disputes related to sports, appealing against Vinesh’s disqualification on two counts. The first was to let her weigh in again, which the court rejected, and the gold medal match went ahead as scheduled. The second appeal was to award her a silver medal because she had earned it with a proper weigh-in on Tuesday. The CAS has said that it will deliberate on this matter.

The hearing is scheduled for 9:00 am Paris time (12:30 pm IST) and many hope that with Salve fighting for Vinesh, there might be a favourable outcome. But who exactly is Harish Salve?

What will Salve be fighting for at CAS?

Senior advocate and former Solicitor General of India, Salve will now represent India’s wrestler Vinesh Phogat at the CAS hearing. He will appear virtually, said reports. Earlier, the IOA had moved the sports tribunal against the Olympics’ decision to disqualify the 29-year-old wrestler.

On Wednesday (August 7), news had broken that Phogat had been
disqualified from the Games after being a mere 100 grammes
overweight — just hours before she was to fight in the gold medal bout. A day later, a heartbroken Phogat also announced her
retirement from the sport, telling her mother in a post on X: “Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me),”

Meanwhile, the IOA filed two appeals with
CAS. The first one, which was rejected, was that she be allowed to participate in the final. The other is a demand for a joint silver medal, which has been considered.

According to a Sportstar report, Vinesh’s appeal states: “The excess of 100 g is extremely negligible (representing around 0.1 to 0.2 per cent of the athlete’s weight) and can easily be caused by the bloating of a human body during summer weather, as the heat makes the human body retain more water, scientifically for survival purposes. It can also be due to muscle mass increase as the athlete competed three times on the same day. It can also be caused by the food consumption of the athlete after the competitions to sustain her health and integrity for the demanding competitions.

“The conditions under which she “regained” weight after her first fights clearly show that this was not a case of excess weight providing any advantage whatsoever, but merely the implementation of a classic and essential recovery process. Finally, it should be remembered that the CAS must uphold the fundamental rights of athletes, including the right to respect for their physical integrity.”

The hearing will be taken up today (August 9) at 12.30 pm. However, the verdict in the case may take a few days to be announced.