NEW DELHI: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has formally served a notice on double Olympic medal winning wrestler Sushil Kumar in connection with the fracas during which a group of people alleged to be Sushil’s supporters had beaten up Parveen Rana, his challenger in the 74kg freestyle weight class, and his brother.
In his written complaint to WFI, Rana claimed that Sushil’s supporters, at his behest, had beaten them up on the day of the trials for the Commonwealth Games on December 29. He further alleged that on December 31 a few of Sushil’s supporters again threatened him with dire consequences if he filed a complaint against the two-time Olympics medallist.
Rana also alleged that ‘fraud’ was committed in the bout and added that scoring was done in a ‘biased’ manner as the referees were acting under pressure from Sushil’s corner who he said behaved aggressively. Sushil defeated Rana 7-3 in the bout before beating another wrestler, Jitender, to book his place in the CWG-bound squad.
The Tribune reports that WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh personally handed the notice to Sushil. Sushil has till Saturday to submit his reply to the federation.
The issue will be referred to WFI’s disciplinary committee, who are also likely to review the bout under the supervision of United World Wrestling jury member and referee Ashok Kumar Bhanwala, Indian Express reports.
“The bout might be reviewed because Rana has alleged fraud. However, all our officials were present on the day of the trials and there was nothing wrong technically,” WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told Express.
