CHENNAI; Receiving weird gifts for their accomplishments is not new for athletes. Tennis legend Roger Federer was gifted a cow, not once but twice, by the Swiss Open Gstaad. The 23rd Senior Women’s National Wrestling Championship in Agra on Sunday witnessed a similar incident, but this time it’s the governing body that ended up with the gift.
In its bid to felicitate the best wrestler of the tournament, a sponsor on Sunday offered to gift a buffalo worth around Rs 1.5 lakh. With the event not having an award in that category, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) decided to accept the gift on behalf of the wrestlers.
“A local sponsor wanted to gift the buffalo to the best wrestler. Given the format in which the competition was being organised, every weight category (total 10) has a gold winner so it was not possible to pick the best among them,” Vinod Tomar, WFI’s assistant secretary, told this daily. After much deliberation, the animal was eventually gifted to WFI, he added. Sources claimed that around Rs 15,000 was spent only on the decoration of the buffalo that was brought to the venue with full fanfare.
So what’s next? Even the federation is not sure what to do wi th the gift. A WFI source revealed the animal might be transported to WFI’s headquarters in New Delhi. The federati o n runs its office from presid ent Brijbhushan Sharan Si ngh’s official residence in Delhi. Singh is a BJP MP from Kaiserganj, Uttar Pradesh.