Vinesh Phogat deserves silver medal at least, says Ganguly
Kolkata, Aug 11: Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly on Sunday extended his support to wrestler Vinesh Phogat, saying she deserves at least a silver medal for reaching the 50kg freestyle final at the Paris Olympics.
The 29-year-old Vinesh was disqualified ahead of the gold-medal bout for being 100gm overweight above the prescribed limit in the morning weigh-in, crushing her Olympic dream. The heartbreak prompted her to announce her retirement from wrestling.
"I don't know the exact rule, but I'm sure that when she reached the finals, she must have qualified properly," Ganguly told reporters when asked for his opinion on the matter on the sidelines of the Kolkata Food Festival here.
"So when you go to the finals, it's either a gold or silver medal. Whether she was disqualified wrongfully or not, I don't know, but she deserves the silver medal at least," he added.
Vinesh has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal with Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who had lost to the Indian but was later promoted to the final following the Haryana wrestler's disqualification.
American Sarah Hildebrandt won the gold after defeating Lopez in the title clash.
The decision on Vinesh's appeal is expected to come on August 13.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar also had supported Vinesh, saying the disqualification of the Indian wrestler, "defied logic and sporting sense", and asked for rules to be revisited.
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Chamoli hydropower tunnel train collision: 88 injured, magisterial probe ordered
Gopeshwar/Dehradun (PTI): Chamoli District Magistrate Gaurav Kumar on Wednesday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the collision between two loco trains inside the Pipalkoti tunnel of the under-construction Vishnugad-Pipalkoti hydropower project, which left 88 people injured.
Earlier in the day, Kumar said that the accident occurred around 8.30 pm on Tuesday at the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) site inside the tunnel being built by THDC (India).
A loco train carrying workers for tunnel excavation during the night shift was about two kilometres inside the tunnel when another loco train coming from the opposite direction lost control and collided with it.
One of the trains had workers and officials on board, while the other carried material.
Upon receiving information about the collision, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered proper treatment for the injured. He spoke to the DM over the phone and instructed him to ensure that all the injured receive the best possible medical facilities.
DM Kumar and Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar met the injured at the Gopeshwar District Hospital.
Kumar said 109 people were on board the loco train at the time of the accident, most of them labourers. None of the injured was serious, he said.
He said that 88 of them were injured, although none of them are in serious condition. They said that 84 workers were discharged after receiving first aid, while four are still hospitalized.
DM Kumar and SP Panwar also inspected the project site and sought detailed information about the incident from the project officials.
They instructed them to strictly implement all necessary safety standards to prevent a recurrence of such an incident in the future.
After inspection, the DM issued orders for a magisterial inquiry into the accident caused by the collision of the loco trains.
Meanwhile, the Railways said the trains involved in the collision had no connection with it.
"It is clarified that this unfortunate incident occurred in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, involving a trolley used in the local transportation system during the construction of a hydroelectric project tunnel. The train referred to in the news reports is not an Indian Railways train, but a transportation system being used locally by the project team," the government entity said in a statement.
According to officials, rail-like vehicles are used to transport workers, employees, and materials for construction work inside the tunnel.
The project, being built between Helang and Pipalkoti on the Alaknanda River, will generate 444 megawatts of electricity through four turbines. The project is targeted for completion by next year.
