Picture Credit: X
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat missed a medal after being disqualified for overweighing by over two kilograms ahead of her gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, she might not have fought and won the medal, but her medal hopes still remains alive with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) accepting her appeal to challenge the move of her disqualification.
As her plea for an Olympics silver medal is set to be heard on Friday, August 9 at 12:30 pm IST, it is being reported that Harish Salve, India’s top ranked lawyer will represent the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) in the case concerning her disqualification. The 69-year-old, who has previously served as the Solicitor General of India and the King’s Counsel confirmed to ANI that he has been engaged to represent IOA at the CAS.
Salve is set to fight for Phogat after the IOA moved to CAS, appealing against Vinesh’s disqualification on two counts. While the first was to weigh her again, which the court rejected, the second appeal was to award her a silver because she had earned it with proper weigh-in on Tuesday.
Who is Harish Salve?
Harish Salve is India’s most renowned lawyers, practising in the Supreme Court as well as appearing for India in international arbitration matters. Born into a Marathi family in 1955, Salve began his legal career as an intern in 1980 at JB Dadachandji & Co.. He also worked closely with Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney General of India between 1980 and 1986. The 69-year-old was designated a Senior counsel in Supreme Court in 1992 and became the Solicitor General of India in 1999.
Salve, was later admitted to the English Bar in 2013 and joined top English barristers at Blackstone Chambers. In his legal career so far, he has represented some of the many high-profile clients, including Salman Khan in his hit-an-run case of 2002. Apart from this, he has proved crucial in some of the well-known cases including the Bilkis Bano (2003)2012 Vodafone case against the government, Kulbhushan Jadhav case and several others.
