Indian wrestling federation suspended; wrestlers to compete under neutral flag at World Championships

UWW, the global governing body for wrestling, has suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for not conducting its elections on time.

The development means the Indian wrestlers will not be able to compete under the tricolour at the World Championships. Indian wrestlers will have to compete as ‘neutral athletes’ at the World Championships which acts as qualifying event for the Paris Olympics next year.

WFI elections have been repeatedly re-scheduled and the 45-day deadline for conducting the elections was not honoured by the ad-hoc panel.

The development comes a day before the World Championship trials are conducted in Patiala. The Worlds are due to be held in Belgrade, Serbia from 16 September.

Ad-hoc panel, led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, was appointed on April 27 and supposed to hold elections within 45 days.

On 28 April, UWW had warned that it could suspend the Indian federation if the deadline to hold elections is not honoured.

“The UWW communicated to the ad-hoc panel on Wednesday night that WFI has been suspended for not holding elections to its executive committee,” an IOA source told news agency PTI.

Meanwhile ad-hoc panel member Gian Singh told PTI that they are unaware of the latest development and not part of the decision making process anymore.

“I have also heard that WFI has been suspended but I can’t tell you what the ad-hoc panel will do now. Mr Bajwa does not call us for discussion anymore. I did not even know how the criteria were finalised for the Worlds trials,” Gian told PTI. “Mr Bajwa is too busy, it seems,” he added.

The latest news comes as a blow just few days after India women’s wrestlers won the team title at the U-20 World Championships in Amman, Jordan. There, the collective effort of Indian female wrestlers were accumulated to award India the title. That, however, won’t be the case at the World Championships with grapplers competing as neutrals.

The wrestlers, though, will compete under the India flag at the Asian Games, starting September 23 in Hangzhou, since it is the IOA which has sent entries and not the WFI.

Originally, the WFI were to hold elections on May 7 but the Sports Ministry had declared the process as null and void and subsequently IOA installed an ad-hoc panel to run the sport.

The elections have been delayed several times since with multiple disgruntled and disaffiliated state bodies moving court, seeking the right to participate in the polls.

Multiple delays

The Returning Officer had originally set July 11 as the date for WFI elections but Assam association moved the Guwahati High Court and was given next hearing for July 28.

Andhra state association challenged the decision in the Supreme Court which quashed the Guwahati High Court decision, paving way for the polls to be conducted.

The Returning officer then declared August 12 as the new date but a day before the elections, Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the process on an application moved by Haryana Wrestling Association (HWA), led by Deepinder Singh Hooda before being suspended by WFI.

HWA had challenged the decision to allow Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association to cast votes in the WFI polls. This case is also pending in the Supreme Court and is scheduled to be heard on Friday.

The UWW, in its letter on April 28, had reminded the Sports Ministry, IOA and WFI, that it has already taken “a measure in this situation by reallocating the Asian Championship planned in New Delhi earlier this year.”

The Championship was moved out of the country due to the controversy surrounding outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexually abusing several women wrestlers. That case is already in a Delhi court.