CHENNAI: Haryana is India's wrestling citadel. The state is considered a wrestling powerhouse with akharas (wrestling academies) in every nook and corner.
Out of eight Olympic medallists since 1952 in the sport so far, five were born in the state with only the first medal winner KD Jadhav and double medallist Sushil Kumar born in Maharashtra and Delhi respectively. Such has been the dominance of Haryana in wrestling that even today, national teams in all age groups usually comprise more than 90 per cent wrestlers from the state.
That sway, however, seems to be diminishing, at least on paper. Going by birth records of up and coming wrestlers and even seniors to some extent, Begampur in Narela Zone and Suleman Nagar of Rohini Zone in New Delhi are emerging as the new wrestling nurseries. Both localities are in the North West part of the national capital and next to each other.
In the last few months, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has identified around 400 wrestlers from various age groups, who have submitted their birth certificates issued by Narela Zone or Rohini Zone of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Over 90 per cent of these grapplers hail from Haryana but their birth certificates show them as residents of Begampur or Suleman Nagar. Around 350 of them, on verification, have been found to be residents of Haryana and asked to compete in national tournaments representing their original state.
"The move is in line with the government's draft policy to counter age fraud and WFI's domicile rules and regulations," Sanjay Kumar Singh, WFI president, told this daily.
Earlier, the federation had made it mandatory for wrestlers to submit their Aadhaar cards to participate in the national tournaments. It was aimed at curbing age fraud and preventing inter-state exodus of wrestlers using forged domicile. In 2020, the federation adopted more stringent measures to make sure a wrestler from a particular state does not represent any other state.
"It has been seen frequently that Haryana wrestlers obtain birth certificates from Delhi to make themselves eligible to play for Delhi in the national tournaments. With competition in Haryana intense, wrestlers, who know they cannot find a place in the state squads, move to Delhi," a WFI official in the know of things, told this daily.
In the last few days, the federation has scanned more than hundreds of birth certificates submitted by wrestlers and found that more than 50 per cent of them were issued by Narela and Rohini Zone. This daily is also in possession of at least 40 birth certificates issued by either zone.
"With every third birth certificate being issued by these zones, the WFI started asking for more documents like parents' Aadhaar cards, their voter IDs from the wrestlers in question. Most of these wrestlers got the birth certificates issued after 2020. Interestingly, in some cases, even parents have changed their permanent addresseses. This made things complicated but the federation demanded them to produce old Aadhaar cards or voter IDs which eventually unravelled the mystery. Such a move is unfair to original Delhi wrestlers as such mass exodus increases the competition, thus depriving the athletes from the national capital a chance to compete in the national level tournaments," added the source.
Singh said the process will continue in months to come as the WFI wants to set an example by putting an end to such malpractice. "It's in the interest of athletes as once such wrestlers get a message that they will not be entertained, they will automatically refrain from doing so," added the WFI president.
THE PROCESS
Most of birth certificates show these wrestlers are residents of Begampur and Suleman Nagar
In most cases, wrestlers got birth certificates issued in 2020 or after, several years after the birth
The move allegedly aimed at age fraud or changing domicile
Around 350 wrestlers issued birth certificates by Narela and Rohini Zone of New Delhi asked to move back to Haryana
