NEW DELHI: After losing the tournament's hosting rights last year due to the wrestlers' protest, India was keen to organise the Senior, U23 and U17 Asian Wrestling Championships next year. However, despite lobbying hard for the continental event, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was not given the hosting rights.
The United World Wrestling (UWW) has given the senior tournament to Amman, Jordan. It will be held from March 25 to 30 next year. Similarly, the age group events have been allotted to Pattaya, Thailand which will be organised from June 14 to 22.
Last year, the Championship was slated from March 28 to April 2 in New Delhi but was shifted to Almaty in Kazakhstan. It was held between April 7 to 15 in the city.
"UWW was forced to change the host of the continental championships due to the recent developments in Indian wrestling and a pending inquiry by the Indian sports ministry against the Wrestling Federation of India," a press release on the UWW website stated then.
It was also learnt that the wrestlers who launched the protest has written to the UWW raising concerns over safety of fellow grapplers from other countries.
WFI sources said the world body, through a mail, communicated its decision. "We received a mail saying Jordan and Thailand were deemed appropriate for the tournaments. No other specific reasons were given for not accepting India's bid," the WFI source told The New Indian Express.
India last hosted the championship in 2020 just prior to the COVID lockdown.
Notably, UWW recognises WFI but the sports ministry has yet not lifted its suspension on the body despite the High Court giving it liberty to either continue with its previous order or revoke the suspension.
While there seems to be no end to the ongoing dispute, it certainly has deprived the country of an important tournament and the wrestlers of a chance to compete on home turf.