Asian Wrestling Championships moved out of India

The event, which was originally scheduled to be held in New Delhi from March 28 to April 2, will now be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan between April 7 and 15

Logo of Wrestling Federation of India.(Photo | Twitter)

CHENNAI: In what could be termed as a major fallout of the ongoing tussle between the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and the country's star grapplers, the United World Wrestling (UWW) on Thursday has moved the proposed Asian Championships out of India.The event, which was originally scheduled to be held in New Delhi from March 28 to April 2, will now be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan between April 7 and 15. The final dates will be confirmed soon.

"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," says the world governing body in a statement posted on its official website.

The Asian Championships is an important fixture because those nations participating in their respective continental championships will be eligible to compete at the World Championships later this year, which is the first Olympic qualification event in the sport. This being the Olympic qualification year, each tournament that carries ranking points becomes crucial.

"Astana hosted the 2019 World Championships with grand success and Kazakhstan was the host of the Asian Championships in 2021 as well. The city of Almaty also hosted the third Ranking Series event last year," adds the statement.

As has been reported by this daily ever since renowned wrestlers of the country including Olympic and World Championships medallists staged a protest against WFI and its chief last month, there was always uncertainty over hosting the championships given the ongoing turmoil in the country.

The wrestlers levelled serious allegations including sexual harassment against the WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh following which the sports ministry constituted an oversight committee to probe the accusations. The committee was initially given four weeks time to submit its report, which on Wednesday was extended by two weeks.The committee was also given the responsibility to look after the day-to-day functioning of the federation after its embattled president was asked to step aside till the completion of the probe.

Earlier, the committee also had also requested the UWW to push the event to the first week of April. The OC had apparently written to the UWW a few days ago, listing out their concerns, especially due to the hosting of women's boxing World Championships at the same venue, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from March 15 to 26.

However, it is learnt that the wrestlers also wrote to the UWW requesting it not to host the championships in India. The UWW seems to have considered their request by deciding to shift the tournament out of the country seems

"Apart from the senior competition, the U17 and U23 Asian Championships are set to return to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for a second straight year. The tournament will take place from June 10 to 18. The dates of the U15 and U20 Asian Championships have been modified and it will now take place in Amman, Jordan from July 12 to 20," says the statement.