UWW, the organisation that oversees wrestling, has suspended The Wrestling Federation of India as it was unable to hold the elections on time. Resultantly, the Indian wrestlers won’t be able to represent the tricolours in the upcoming World Championships.
UWW suspends WFI: India wrestlers to not compete in the upcoming World Championship
Bhupender Singh Bajwa, the head of the ad-hoc body didn’t stick to the timeframe for holding the polls. Hence, the Indian wrestlers will have to compete at the Olympic Qualifying World Championships as “neutral athletes.” It starts on September 16.
That suggests the top Indian wrestlers will not be playing under Tricolour at the qualifying event for the Paris Olympics 2024. The IOA selected the ad hoc panel on April 27 and the elections were to be done by the committee by 45 days. Even on April 28, a warning was posed that in case the election deadline isn’t maintained, the Indian Federation could be suspended.
An IOA source, who spoke to PTI, said, “The UWW communicated to the ad hoc panel on Wednesday night that WFI has been suspended for failing to hold elections to its executive committee.”Initially, WFI scheduled the elections for 7th May. However, the Sports Ministry declared the procedure to be invalid. The elections have been repeatedly postponed owing to different unaffiliated state bodies petitioning the court for the right to vote. WFI currently runs on a regular basis that was set up by the Indian Olympic Association. Mention needs to be made that United World Wrestling, the Sport’s highest authority, threatened to suspend WFI in case elections were delayed.
Back in June, speaking about the deadline, the UWW committee had said, “Failing to do so may lead UWW to suspend the federation, thereby forcing the athletes to compete under a neutral flag.” The suspension was imposed two days before the trials The suspension came just two days before the Indian wrestling trials for the World Championship. It was scheduled in Patiala. However, the IOA ad-hoc committee has informed the PTI and the trials will go on as per the decided schedule. Under the terms of suspension, Indian wrestlers and their support personnel are eligible to be a part of all UWW-sanctioned events but they’ll be able to do so under the UWW flag.
However, all the members of the Federation will not be able to attend any UWW event until any further notice is issued. Still, the Indian wrestlers will have a chance to participate under Tricolour at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China, in September-October, as the entries were ensured by the Indian Olympic Association and not the Wrestling Federation of India.
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