CHENNAI: A few days after the Delhi High Court restored the mandate of IOA's ad-hoc committee for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), the United World Wrestling (UWW) has called the national sport federation (NSF) chief to Amman, Jordan for a meeting.
In an extraordinary situation, the world governing body has apparently asked the organising federation to make all arrangements for Sanjay Kumar Singh's visit on the sidelines of an age-group World Championship (U-17). He reached Amman, the venue on Monday and the meeting with UWW chief Nenad Lalovic is expected on Tuesday.
"Yes, I have reached Amman. I have been asked to reach here by the UWW. A meeting with the UWW chief is scheduled tomorrow (Tuesday) but I don't know what the agenda is," the WFI president told this daily.
The Delhi HC, in its interim order on Friday, on the plea by the country's top wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian, said it was open to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) re-constituting the ad-hoc panel.
The grapplers had moved the court to set aside and declare the elections of the WFI illegal. The elections were held in December last year. Singh, considered to be a close aide of the former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh against whom the wrestlers staged a protest accusing him of sexual harassment, was elected president during the election.
The sports ministry then suspended the WFI on December 24, 2023, three days after the elections, for allegedly not following the sports code and requested IOA to constitute an ad-hoc committee to manage and control its affairs. Earlier, the WFI was put under provisional suspension by the UWW for not holding the election in August 2023. In February, the world body lifted the suspension following which the IOA also dissolved its ad-hoc committee in March. On March 4, the court issued notice to the central government, WFI and the ad-hoc committee of WFI on the petition by the top grapplers.
Talking on the development, a source keeping the track of the situation said the UWW was apprised of the court's order and it might discuss the issue with the WFI president. "In the past as well, the UWW was not happy with the government intervention. It had clearly said in the past that the WFI is an autonomous body and any interference by the government would not be tolerated. The interim order by the Delhi HC may be the reason for calling WFI chief to Jordan," the source said.