CHENNAI: In what comes as a big relief for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), the United World Wrestling (UWW) on Tuesday lifted the suspension imposed on the national federation on August 23 last year with immediate effect. The decision by the world body means Indian wrestlers can now compete under the country's flag in events being organised by the UWW.
It also means official entries for all UWW events can only be sent by the WFI that is headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, considered a close associate of former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Besides, tournaments and camps organised by the NSF will now have recognition from the world body.
"The UWW Bureau met on February 9 to review the suspension among other topics and considering all the elements and information, it decided to lift the suspension under the following conditions: The WFI has to re-convene the elections of its Athletes’ Commission. The candidates for this commission shall be active athletes or retired for no longer than four years. The voters shall be exclusively athletes. These elections shall take place during trials or any senior national championships where this operation can take place, but no later than July 1, 2024," read a UWW statement.
The other important condition laid down by the world body is non-discrimination against any wrestlers, especially the three grapplers — Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik — who protested against Brij Bhushan. "The WFI has to immediately provide UWW with written guarantees that all wrestlers will be considered for participation without any discrimination in all WFI events, in particular trials for the Olympic Games and any other major national and international events. This non-discrimination includes the three athletes who protested against alleged wrongdoings by the former President. UWW remains in touch with the wrestlers and will follow up with them in the coming days," the statement said further.
The trio was the face of the protest that erupted in January last year. The wrestlers accused Brij Bhushan, a BJP member of parliament, of sexual harassment and other wrongdoings including misappropriation of funds. A legal case is pending in court against Brij Bhushan and others in this regard.
"We will talk to the government and request them to facilitate the hosting of national camps. We will also organise selection trials to pick the national teams for the remaining two Olympic qualifiers," Sanjay Singh told this daily. Soon after the elections on December 21 last year, the sports ministry had abstained the WFI from functioning and formed a three-member ad-hoc committee to look after the day-to-day activities in the country.
Speaking on the conditions laid down by the UWW, the WFI chief said, "No one would be stopped from participating in the selection trials. Everyone, whether they participated in the Pune nationals or Jaipur nationals, will be allowed to compete. We are hopeful the ministry will now allow us to function after the UWW's decision."
Fate of ongoing camps
Even as the UWW made its decision public, the sports ministry and ad-hoc panel headed by Bhupender Singh Bajwa refrained from commenting on it. Incidentally, national camps announced by the ad-hoc panel, began a couple of days ago at SAI centres in Patiala (women) and Sonepat (men in Greco-Roman and freestyle).
The SAI and ad-hoc body didn't respond to queries sent to them in this regard. The panel also announced to hold selection trials for Olympic qualifiers on March 10-11. It also announced to organise U-15 and U-20 national championships. What will happen to these announcements remain unclear.