Ningappa Genannavar is the newest sensation of wrestling in North Karnataka. Arun Kumakale, a local wrestling coach has discovered the history of it's wrestling mad town and the journey of Ningappa.

"Every house here in Mudhol has a wrestler, but not in Ninga — he has no house." said coach Arun Kumakale. By saying this two lines, he wants to capture the history of the wrestling crazy town of Northern Karnataka and the journey of the genius Ningappa Genannavar.

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Ningappa Genannavar is a son a homeless farm labourer couple. He comes in limelight for his strong defense and strong leg attack. On Thursday, the 17-year-old defeated Amir Mohammad Saleh in the 45kg freestyle category final of the Asian Under-17 Championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. His medal puts Karnataka wrestling hub in spotlight. It has remained in the shadow of the traditional hotbeds in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab.

Ram Budaki, wrestling coach of the State Authority of India (SAI) said in a statement, "The place is most famous for the Mudhol Hound, the dogs are known all over India. The city's next best produce is its wrestlers."

Also read : Senior National Wrestling Championships 2021: Gourav Baliyan wins gold in Men's, Geeta Phogat wins silver in comeback

The 17-year-old once was rejected by sports schools of the state for his short stature and underweight. He is now the expert defender and has strong leg-attack. The homeless boy wants to clear his family's debt as his father had to borrow money to support his career. He also wants to build his own house.

Ningappa achieved the bronze medal only at the age of 15 in the National Championships in kota. After that, he was asked to participate in Sonepat's NCoE.

"It's a quaint little place. The Krishna River flows through the city, most of the people are farmers, and almost every household has a wrestler. It's a matter of pride. Every morning, you'll see dozens of young boys and girls at the garadis (akhadas)," says N R Narasimha, secretary of the Karnataka Wrestling Federation.

Indian women's wrestlers Aditi Kumari, Neha, Pulkit and Mansi Lather made it 4-on-4 by winning 4 Gold medals in 43kg, 57kg, 65kg and 73kg women's freestyle respectively in the U17 Wrestling World Championships 2024 in Amman.

Indian boys Ronak Dahiya and Sainath Pardhi already had won two bronze medals in the Men's Greco-Roman category and on Thursday it was the girl's time to bring glory to the country.

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Aditi, Neha, Pulkit and Mansi dominate in Women's fresstyle

Aditi Kumari defeated Maria Louisa Gkika of Grece by 7-0 in the final of the 43kg freestyle category to win India's first gold of the U17 Wrestling World Championships 2024.

After that, Neha continued the momentum for India So Tsutsui of Japan by technical superiority 10-0 in the final of the women's freestyle 57kg to clinch India's second gold. That was Neha's third win by superiority or fall in the tournament.

Pulkit then ensured India's third gold of the night and competition by beating Daria Frolova (AIN) 6-3 in the women's freestyle 65kg division.

In the end, Mansi Lather made it 4 out of 4 for India in the Women's freestyle wrestling by pinning Hanna Pirskaya (AIN) while leading 5-0 in the final of the women's freestyle 73kg category.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) accepted Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat's appeal against her disqualification at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday. The hearing will start at 5:30 PM IST.

The hearing will be conducted online

Joelle Monlouis, Estelle Ivanova, Habbine Estelle Kim, and Charles Amson will be the lawyers representing Vinesh at the CAS hearing. The hearing will be conducted online. If Vinesh wins the appeal, she will be awarded a joint-silver medal. If she loses, the disqualification will stand, and she will finish in last place.

Vinesh found overweight

Vinesh Phogat stormed into the final after three sensational wins in the women's 50kg category and boosted India's hopes for the first gold at the 33rd Summer Games. But Vinesh's weight was found to be 100 grams more than her prescribed category of 50kg.

After this, the Olympic Association disqualified her from the freestyle women's wrestling final against USA's Sarah Hildebrandt and was denied a silver as well. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and IOA strongly protested against the disqualification and the wrestler approached the Court of Arbitration on Wednesday.

Vinesh took retirement

A day after her disqualification from the Paris Olympics 2024, Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling on X. 

Phogat was favored to win a historic gold medal and was assured of at least a silver before the disqualification. However, being disqualified due to weight meant that none of her earlier victories counted, and she returned home without a medal.

Vinesh Phogat, the Indian wrestler who had become the first-ever Indian female wrestler to qualify for the finals at the Olympics, was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 since she was found overweight by just 100 grams.

Phogat had beaten Yui Susaki, Oksana Livach and Yusneylys Guzmán in the pre-quarters, quarters and semi-finals before reaching the finals. Sadly, everything changed for Vinesh Phogat and nearly 1.4 Billion Indian fans when she failed the weight test today.  

The three-time Commonwealth Games Gold medalist was found 100 gms overweight, and as per the rule of the United World Wrestling, she will be scraped from medals and will be placed last in the tournament.

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How does the weigh-in happen?

As per United World Wrestling Article no. 11, "For all competitions, the weigh-in is organised each morning of the concerned weight category. The weigh-in and the medical control lasts 30 minutes. The second morning of the concerned weight category only the wrestlers who participate in the repechages and finals have to come for the weigh-in. This weigh-in will last 15 minutes. "

2kg tolerance allowed on the first day

There are two kinds of rules for two weigh-in days as per United World Wrestling. As per their rule, they allow a 2kg tolerance on the first day of weigh-in but do not allow the same for the next day.

"The medical control and a first weigh-in will be held the morning of the concerned weight category. The qualified athletes for the finals and repechages will be weigh-in again the second morning of the concerned weight category. No more weight tolerance will be allowed for the second weigh-in."

"2kg weight tolerance is allowed for World Cup, UWW Ranking Series Tournaments and for the International Tournaments," article no. 3 of the United World Wrestling states.

So, this means Vinesh was below 52kg yesterday morning but had to be below 50kg to be able to play in the finals.

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Vinesh and the team did everything they could do

Sources from Vinesh Phogat's team reveal the harrowing run up to the weigh in this morning. #Paris2024 | #OlympicGames | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/ynCLLkUPc0

— Sportstar (@sportstarweb) August 7, 2024

Vinesh Phogat and her team did everything they could do the shred off those extra two kilos. But, cutting down extra weight from the body is an extremely rigorous process.

The wrestler needs to cut down on water, food and everything and at the same time lose calories doing exercise to lose weight. Vinesh did everything.

She was seen doing jumping ropes in a sweat suit and worked on it throughout the day. This caused her a tremendous amount of dehydration and had to be hospitalised right after disqualification.

Examples of wrestlers getting disqualified due to not making the weight limit at Paris Olympics 2024

Yes, there are three more wrestlers who were disqualified as they could not make the weight limit at the Paris Olympics 2024.

• Stevan Mićić (Serbia) - Men's Freestyle 57kg
• Batyrbek Tsakulov (Slovakia) - Men's Freestyle 65kg
• Danila Semenov (Russia) - Men's Light Heavyweight (80-92kg)

Dear @Phogat_Vinesh, you will always be a champion in our eyes. I was deeply hoping you could win the gold. The little time I spent with you at PDCSE was watching a woman with a superhuman will fight to get better. It was inspiring. I am here for you always, sending all the…

— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) August 7, 2024

Hello and welcome to Sportz Point's coverage of India At Paris Olympics 2024 Day 12 (7th August) as Indian athletes look for more medals at the Olympics. 

So far, India's three medals have come from shooting, and with the shooting event getting over, our focus has shifted to athletics.

Throughout the day, this is Abishek Goswami along with Payal Debnath and Koushik Biswas will bring you all the updates from the web desk. 

Follow us on Twitter for all the updates. Join our Telegram and WhatsApp channels for all the news and scores. 

We are arriving towards the final week of the Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian fans will begin focusing on athletics and wrestling. India’s one of the wrestling medal contenders in Paris is Vinesh Phogat. She will be competing in 50kg freestyle wrestling. The 29-year-old will try to extend India's tally at the Paris Olympics 2024.

She will compete at the Olympics for the third consecutive time. Phogat made her debut at the Rio Olympics in 2016 in the 48kg freestyle and lost in the quarterfinals. The Indian female athlete suffered a dislocation in her right knee during the quarterfinals and had to be carried away on a stretcher.

She made a comeback at the and reached the quarterfinals again but this time in the 53kg freestyle event. However, she lost to Belarusian Vanesa Kaladzinskaya. Her journey at the 2024 Summer Olympics will begin on 6th August, the 11th day of the competition.

Read Also: India at Paris Olympics 2024 Day 11 (6th August) Schedule

Phogat will be hoping for a maiden Olympic medal. She and five more wrestlers will be seen from the Indian contingent.

Timing of the women’s 50 kg freestyle wrestling bout in Paris Olympics 2024

The women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling event will start on Tuesday, August 6, beginning at 3:00 PM IST (11:30 a.m. local time). Vinesh Phogat and five more wrestlers from India in the 50 kg freestyle event will be in action at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.

Where to follow the Paris Olympics 2024 events in India?

Fans in India can watch the live telecast of women’s 50 kg freestyle wrestling bouts on the Sports 18 network TV. The events will also be streamed live on Jio Cinema and it's free for all users.