The wrestling community was shocked to learn that Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the women’s 50kg wrestling category. She exceeded the weight limit by over 100 grams during the weigh-in, leading to her exclusion, as outlined in Article 11 of the United World Wrestling regulations. Consequently, Team USA’s Sarah Ann Hildebrandt will now face Yusneylys Guzmán of Cuba, who had lost her bout against Phogat. As Christian Pyles stated on X, the dynamics of the wrestling finals have been significantly altered.

The content director at Flowrestling.org mentioned the issue on X. He stated, “Just got word, Sarah Hildebrandt will be wrestling Guzman of Cuba in the gold medal match. Guzman fell to Vinesh Phogat 10-0 in the semifinals last night. Phogat missing weight today slides Guzman to the final per UWW rules (article 14).”

According to Article 14 of the UWW, the Cuban wrestler will now face Hildebrandt in the gold medal match. Meanwhile, Yui Susaki will compete against Oksana Livach for the bronze medal through the repechage process. Let’s now explore Hildebrandt’s new opponent from Cuba.

Yusneylys Guzman makes the gold medal match after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification

Sarah Hildebrandt won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, Yusneylys Guzmán clinched the gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games and is now aiming for Olympic gold. The match promises to be a thrilling encounter, especially after Vinesh Phogat’s unfortunate weigh-in issue. Despite losing to Phogat, Guzmán now gets a second chance to pursue her Olympic dream.

The Cuban freestyle wrestler lost heavily to Phogat in the semi-final match. When preparing to fight for the bronze medal, she boosted her gold medal chances out of the blue. And make no mistake about it, she is a solid wrestler. Apart from the Pan American Games gold medal, Guzman won the Pan American Championships and the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games. Therefore, the 27-year-old will compete in the final according to the rules in Article 14.

According to the rules, “If one (or more) athlete qualified for the repechages and/or finals doesn’t attend or fails the weigh-in, the athlete(s) (who successfully passed the second weigh-in) will move to the next round in his(their) part of the bracket.* *If all athletes don’t attend or fail the second weigh-in, the ranking will be made according the individual ranking criteria (Cf. Article 8).”

Notably, no official statement has come from Vinesh Phogat yet. For now, the focus will now be on Sarah Hildebrandt and Yusneylys Guzman. Who do you think will come on top? Let us know in the comments.