Paris: Indian wrestler Antim Panghal said neither she nor her sister was detained/arrested by Paris Police on Wednesday on the suspicion of using the wrestler’s accreditation to enter the Olympic Village.
Refuting media reports that claimed her sister was arrested for impersonating and using her accreditation card to enter the Games Village, Antim cleared the air and said her sister went to take her belongings after she fell sick following her pre-quarterfinal loss on Wednesday.
Antim lost to Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgh 0-10 in the women’s 53kg category on Wednesday and fell sick afterwards. However, she then left the Games Village to join her sister in the hotel where she stayed.
“I want to clarify that the reports about my sister or me being detained by police in Paris are false, nothing of this sort happened. Yesterday, I fell extremely sick after losing the bout and had a high fever. So my sister, who was staying in a hotel asked me to come there. I took permission from my coach, which he allowed,” said Antim in a video statement on Thursday.
“After coming to the hotel, I needed my belongings, which were at the Olympic Village. But as I was not feeling well I slept and my sister took my accreditation card and went to the Village,” she added.
The 19-year-old further said that she was called to the police station for the verification of the accreditation and later returned to their hotel.
“Upon reaching there she said that this is my sister’s accreditation card and she is unwell, so can I collect her belongings from the Games Village? The officials took the accreditation card and took her to the police station for verification. I was not taken to the police station, only my sister went. And that too just to verify the accreditation, following which she was asked to go and was handed over the accreditation card,” the wrestler said.
“They are also saying that the coach fought with a cab driver. This didn’t happen at all, when I lost the bout, even the coach was extremely upset. While I came to the hotel, he stayed at the Village, and we booked a cab for him till the hotel.
“The problem escalated due to the language barrier. After reaching the hotel, the coaches didn’t have enough Euros and informed the cab driver to allow them to go to the room and bring it. However, both parties had problems understanding each other and in the meantime, one of the coaches came up to the room. It took him almost five minutes to return with Euro, so due to this there was a fight between the coaches and the cab driver,” Antim concluded.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) refuted the reports of imposing a ban on Antim following a disciplinary breach in the Games Village.
“IOA refutes reports that a ban has been imposed on wrestler Antim. It requests media persons to please check with the IOA leadership before posting such reports,” IOA wrote on X.
Previously, IOA decided to fly wrestler Antim and her support staff back home.
(IANS)
