The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has been suspended by United World Wrestling (UWW), the organisation that oversees wrestling, for failing to carry its elections on time. As a end result, Indian wrestlers won’t be able to play underneath the Indian flag on the coming World Championships.
The ad-hoc physique, headed by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, didn’t adhere to the 45-day deadline for holding elections, and thus the Indian wrestlers must compete on the Olympic-qualifying World Championships starting September 16 as “neutral athletes.”
The advert hoc panel was appointed by the IOA on April 27 and elections have been to be held by the committee inside 45 days. Earlier, the United World Wrestling warned the WFI that if the elections have been pushed again, they’d be suspended.
On August 12, there have been to be elections for the 15 posts on the WFI’s governing board. Four candidates submitted their nominations for the place of president on the Olympic Bhawan in New Delhi on Monday, together with Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh, an in depth aide of outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Meanwhile, Darshan Lal of the Chandigarh wrestling physique was nominated as basic secretary, and SP Deswal of Uttarakhand as treasurer.
Following a plea filed by the Haryana Wrestling Association (HWA), the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 11, the day earlier than the scheduled WFI elections, stayed the extremely anticipated elections till additional orders.
Notably, the WFI was suspended twice—first in January, then once more in May—after India’s prime wrestlers challenged its operation and claimed that Brij Bhushan, the organisation’s then-president, had harassed feminine wrestlers. As reported earlier, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was granted bail by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on July twentieth in a case pertaining to the alleged sexual harassment of ladies wrestlers. Currently, the WFI’s every day operations are supervised by the Indian Olympic Association-constituted ad-hoc committee led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa.