CHENNAI: In what could be termed as signs of good tiding in the ongoing acrimony between the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), the wrestlers employed with the latter are scheduled to compete at the NSF's Federation Cup.
The Federation Cup [senior age group] in freestyle, Greco-Roman style and women wrestling will be organised at Lovely Professional University, Punjab on Saturday and Sunday. Although, the wrestlers will represent their respective states in the competition, the same was apparently 'not allowed' during the 2024 senior national championships from December 6 to 8.
A Greco-Roman wrestler, who was representing Rajasthan in the nationals, was allegedly asked to withdraw from the tournament after winning his first bout while a few were made to work without pay for competing albeit citing different reasons.
The Federation Cup, however, will see participation from more than 10 Railway wrestlers including the Paris Olympian Antim Panghal in 53kg. The other big Railway wrestlers, whose entries have been sent by their respective states, are Vishal Kaliraman (70kg) and Sagar Jaglan (86kg) — both in men's freestyle.
The WFI has allocated quotas and given wildcard entries to states for the competition based on the performance of their wrestlers at the 2024 national championships. Among the Railway wrestlers listed for the event, nine will be representing Haryana in different styles.
"There were times when the WFI didn't allow Railway wrestlers to represent their respective states in its tournaments. I had once requested the federation to allow Railway wrestlers to compete in an U23 tournament but it went in vain. As RSPB doesn't field teams in the age-group tournaments, those wrestlers were seeking permission to represent their states but were not allowed. More than a dozen wrestlers had suffered due to it. The latest change is a welcome sign and it will be a big relief for Railway wrestlers," Kripashankar Patel, Railway coach, told this daily.
The ongoing rift between the RSPB and WFI also meant several Railway wrestlers missed out on a chance to compete at the 2025 National Games held in Uttarakhand recently. The RSPB secretary Prem Chand Lochab then had written to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president to allow RSPB to compete at the event. "It is pertinent to mention that after suspension of WFI, the chances of RSPB's wrestlers for participation in recognised national level tournaments as also their chances of selection for participation in international championships are significantly reduced. In view of the above, it is requested to kindly permit RSPB for sending its wrestling team/wrestlers to participate in the upcoming 38th National Games 2025," the letter dated December 26 read.
Lochab didn't respond to a query sent to him on the RSPB's latest move.
He, however, had cited suspension of the WFI by the sports ministry and an order of the Delhi Court as a reason for not sending Railway team for the 2024 senior national championships. “In such a situation (ministry's suspension and the Delhi High Court order for forming an ad-hoc committee to run the day-to-day affairs of the WFI), it would not be in fittest of things to send Railways team Officially in an unrecognised event,” Lochab had replied to a text message from this daily before the senior nationals last year.
