CHENNAI : In a development that might cast a serious doubt on wrestlers’ participation in the international events including Paris Olympics qualifiers, United World Wrestling on Friday reiterated that only Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) can send entries for tournaments being organised by the world body. In a letter sent to the WFI on Friday and accessed by this daily, the UWW specifically said that no other body can take the role on behalf of the federation.
This comes a day after the Delhi High Court authorised ad-hoc committee to conduct selection trials to pick the national teams for the upcoming Asian Olympic Games Qualifier and Asian Championships. The court issued the directives while hearing a writ petition filed by protesting wrestlers - Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Satyawart Kadian. During the hearing, the court also directed the WFI to withdraw its circular wherein it had announced to conduct selection trials for the events. Even the ad-hoc panel announced the trials on same dates but at different venues - Patiala SAI centre for women wrestlers and Sonepat SAI centre for male freestyle and Greco-Roman grapplers.
The letter says that the WFI like any affiliated units of the UWW is functioning in compliance with the world body’s regulations. Notably, the entries for international tournaments are sent through Athena (competition administration system of the UWW) and the world body has given password for the same to the WFI soon after lifting the suspension on February 13 this year.
“The WFI received the letter today from the UWW which clearly says only the federation can send the teams for the international events,” Sanjay Kumar Singh, the WFI president, told this daily. “No one should be at affected. The sport, wrestlers should not suffer and the country’s pride should be kept intact. As per the letter, only WFI’s entries would be accepted by UWW so a solution should be found in this regard as this is an Olympic year,”he added
As of now, the ad hoc committee, headed by Bhupinder Bajwa, will conduct the trials on March 10 and 11 as per court order.