“With regard to the quantities of narcotics seized from the seller, the investigations have been entrusted to the Narcotics Squad.”

‘DESPAIR’ AS HISTORY-MAKING WRESTLER DISQUALIFIED

India’s wrestling federation was on Wednesday appealing the disqualification of star athlete Vinesh Phogat at the Paris Olympics after she failed to make weight for the women’s 50kg final.

World bronze medallist Phogat, 29, was in the public eye for months last year as part of a long-running protest against the then-chief of Indian wrestling when he was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal.

She was due to face Sarah Hildebrandt of the United States for the gold medal but was found to be overweight for her category.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had filed an appeal with global governing body United World Wrestling to reconsider the decision to disqualify Phogat.

“Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50kg this morning,” the IOA said in a statement.

IOA president P.T. Usha said Phogat’s disqualification was “very shocking”, adding that the team was providing Phogat with “all medical and emotional support”.

Phogat was considered a strong prospect for winning gold at her third Olympic appearance and her sidelining was greeted with shock at home.

“I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a social media post.

“Come back stronger! We are all rooting for you.” Phogat helped lead a weeks-long sit-in protest in New Delhi last year against then-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, at the time a lawmaker from Modi’s ruling party.

Singh is being tried on accusations of groping female athletes and demanding sexual favours from them — charges he denied.

Wrestling is hugely popular in rural northern India and images of Phogat and other athletes being detained as they tried to march to parliament during the protest went viral on social media.

“Vinesh you are a gold medallist of courage and morality,” Bajrang Punia, a fellow leader of last year’s protests, and a Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, said on social media.

“You have fought with grit,” he added. “Nobody wants to believe what happened this morning.”

FRESH BAN SPARKS SEINE RIVER CONCERNS

Elsewhere, Paris Olympics organisers said that training for open water swimming in the River Seine had been cancelled due to pollution, raising questions over why triathletes were allowed to use the waterway the day before.

The decision — the fifth time organisers have scrapped training in the river since the start of the Games on July 28 — is likely to frustrate competitors seeking to get accustomed to the Seine’s strong currents.

A statement from World Aquatics and the organising committee early Tuesday said that one out of four readings for enterococci bacteria in the river — an indicator of the presence of faecal matter — was above the upper authorised limit.

“This decision (to cancel training) has been taken out of an abundance of caution, especially given that another familiarisation swim is scheduled for the following day August 7,” it said.

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Ever since the Seine was chosen the Olympic triathlon and marathon swimming, French authorities have been in a race against time to clean up the waterway.

The triathlon was badly disrupted by poor bacterial readings last week, with all swim training sessions cancelled and the men’s individual race postponed by 24 hours until Wednesday.

A mixed relay race also looked in doubt on Monday but eventually took place on schedule, with Germany clinching gold in a thrillingly close race that saw the US and Britain win silver and bronze medals.

The marathon swimming — a 10-kilometre race in open water — is set to take place on Thursday for women and Friday for men.

The Paris 2024 organising committee suggested that the triathlon race went ahead on Monday while marathon swimming training was cancelled on Tuesday because the two sports are overseen by different governing bodies, World Triathlon and World Aquatics.

World Triathlon gave its green light for Monday’s race on the basis that bacteria levels were trending downwards and it is “willing to factor in forward-looking analysis,” organising committee spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters.

The results of water tests were shared with triathletes before Monday’s race, including one enterococci reading that was above limits, and none of them raised any objections, the organising committee explained.

Several triathletes have expressed frustration about the repeated training cancellations and the suspense about whether their races would go ahead.

The Belgian team did not race in the mixed relay on Monday after their athlete Claire Michel fell sick having swum in the Seine during the women’s individual triathlon last Wednesday.

However, Michel said Tuesday that she had not contracted the E.Coli virus. “Blood tests showed that I contracted a virus (not E. Coli),” she wrote on Instagram, adding that she suffered “three days of vomiting and diarrhoea, which left me quite empty”.

FIVE IN A ROW FOR OLYMPIC FREAK

Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez has made Olympic history by becoming became the first athlete to win five consecutive individual golds in the same event, bettering the records of Games icons such as Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps.

Lopez, who turns 42 in two weeks’ time, defeated fellow Cuban Yasmani Acosta, representing Chile, in the final of the 130kg Greco-Roman event.

With his victory, Lopez broke a tie for four successive individual Olympic golds he shared with Carl Lewis (athletics/long jump), Michael Phelps (swimming/200m medley), Katie Ledecky (swimming/800m freestyle), Al Oerter (athletics/discus), Paul Elvstrom (sailing) and Kaori Icho (wrestling).

When asked to describe each Games success, he said: “Beijing – youth; London – transcendence, Rio – effort; Tokyo – sacrifice; Paris – joy.” “To achieve all of these results, one has to love their sport, love their job, and demonstrate to the world that with so little you can achieve great things,” he added.

A legend of wrestling, Lopez had retired after the 2021 Tokyo Games before returning to the sport to achieve his landmark triumph.

Despite a three-year absence — and having suffered four herniated discs — Lopez stunned world champion Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran in the quarter-finals in Paris.

Victory in the final on Tuesday was bittersweet as it came against close friend Acosta.

In six Olympic appearances, Lopez now has 22 victories against just one defeat which came in the quarter-finals of the 2004 Athens Games.

“He is not very interested in glory. He does this for the love of his sport, for his pleasure. If God gave him the opportunity to be the greatest in history, why not take advantage of it?” his coach Raul Trujillo told AFP.

Lopez received a standing ovation from the crowd on Tuesday before the legend placed his shoes in the middle of the mat, a tradition for retiring wrestlers.

“We have to make room for the young people who are coming through to ensure continuity,” he had said Monday after qualifying for the final.

“Wrestling has been the love of my life, for all of my life.” His record could be equalled in four years’ time if Ledecky, 27, decides to keep swimming at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Acosta, 36, who recently switched allegiance to Chile as federation rules allow just one wrestler per nation to enter each category at the Olympics, described Lopez as a “legend worldwide”.

DAY 12 SCHEDULE

Wednesday August 7 (all time AEST)

Athletics