New Delhi: India’s star wrestler Vinesh Phogat has filed a plea with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after being disqualified before the women’s freestyle 50kg final in the Paris Olympics for failing to make the weight.
Phogat has requested that a joint silver medal be awarded to her along with Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman Lopez, who replaced her for the gold-medal match with American Sarah Hildebrandt. The US grappler won 3-0 to take the gold.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has emerged as a glimmer of hope for the now-retired Phogat, who is the first Indian woman wrestler ever to enter the Olympic finals.
It was set up in 1984 to resolve sports-related disputes. It is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, but also has branches in Sydney and New York. Importantly, it has opened two temporary offices in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The temporary tribunal is operational within the Paris judicial court in the 17th arrondissement of Paris from 16 July until 11 August. The members and arbitrators who are a part of these CAS structures are all experienced lawyers, judges or professors specialised in sports law, anti-doping regulations and/or arbitration.
“The CAS ad-hoc division guarantees free access to high-quality dispute resolution services conducted within a timeframe consistent with the competition schedule as decisions can be rendered within 24 hours in urgent matters,” an official press release says.
What sort of disputes can CAS take up and how do ad-hoc divisions set up for the Olympics Games function? ThePrint explains.
Two types of disputes
According to its website, a dispute can be submitted to it only if there is an arbitration agreement between the parties that specifies recourse to the CAS.
It usually looks at two types of disputes — commercial disputes involving execution of contracts, and disciplinary disputes. The first category may include disputes relating to sponsorship, transfer of players, and relationships between players or coaches and clubs.
The website says the second category often includes doping-related cases or other disciplinary violations like violence on the field. It says that in such cases, the CAS usually acts as an appellate mechanism to challenge the decision by the competent sports authorities.
Out of the two temporary offices set up this year as well, one is for the CAS anti-doping division, which will adjudicate such matters arising during the Olympics.
Ad hoc divisions look at legal
The CAS ad-hoc division is to resolve any legal disputes that arise during the Olympic Games. This temporary tribunal has operated at every edition of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 1996, as well as at other major sporting events, like the Commonwealth Games since 1998, the UEFA European Championship since 2000 and the FIFA World Cup since 2006.
“The success of these ad-hoc divisions has played a large part in making the Court of Arbitration for Sport known among athletes, sports organisations and the media all over the world,” the website notes.
The CAS also has separate arbitration rules applicable to its ad-hoc division for the Olympic Games. It says that on receipt of an application for adjudication of a dispute, the president of the ad-hoc division first constitutes a panel to hear the matter.
The rules say, “At the hearing, the panel shall hear the parties and take all appropriate action with respect to evidence. The parties shall introduce at the hearing all the evidence they intend to adduce and produce the witnesses, who shall be heard immediately. If it considers itself to be sufficiently well informed, the panel may decide not to hold a hearing and to render an award immediately.”
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Coaches, doctors ‘at fault’, Vinesh a winner — uncle Mahavir Phogat on wrestler’s Olympic heartbreak