CHENNAI: The country was staring at a prospect of losing an Olympic medal apart from a possible sanction on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) after Deepak Punia's Russian coach Murad Gaidarov allegedly assaulted a referee at the Tokyo Games.
The referee had officiated in the 86kg bronze medal bout which Deepak lost to San Marino's Myles Nazim Amine on Thursday. The national federation, however, managed to ward off the trouble by immediately terminating the coach.
The United World Wrestling (UWW), the world governing body of the sport, on Friday afternoon held a disciplinary panel meeting and sought an explanation from the WFI. "The UWW served a notice to the WFI asking it to attend a disciplinary panel meeting. The panel insisted on taking back the medal and banning the federation for the misconduct of its foreign coach. WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, however, intimated the panel that Murad has been terminated following which it relented," a WFI official told this daily from Tokyo.
Nenad Lalovic, the UWW president, also spoke in WFI's favour and this helped us in avoiding the ban and saving the medal, added the official. The disciplinary meeting was also attended by a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
So far, wrestler Ravi Dahiya has clinched a silver medal in the 57kg weight category for the country. Ace wrestler Bajrang Punia (65kg) will fight for bronze on Saturday.
Earlier, the IOC cancelled the accreditation of Murad and immediately shifted him to a hotel outside the Games Village. He is expected to fly out of Tokyo for India soon. "The IOC mailed us intimating cancellation of the wrestling coach's accreditation. He has been expelled from the Village," confirmed Rajeev Mehta, secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association.
The WFI appointed Murad in 2019 to train Deepak. The Russian had won bronze in men's freestyle 74kg at the 2008 Beijing Games, which later was upgraded to silver after the Russian wrestler, who finished second, failed the dope test. Besides, he had also bagged a silver medal at the 2003 World Championships.
This, however, is not the first time Murad has been embroiled in a controversy. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he protested and even attacked his opponent after his quarterfinal loss. This led to his disqualification from the event.
Murad, who is expected to reach India on Saturday to collect his belongings before leaving for Russia, remained incommunicado for his comments despite repeated calls and messages.