Wrestling’s world governing body on Tuesday lifted the suspension it imposed on the Wrestling Federation of India “with immediate effect”. The development likely paves the way for the Union Sports Ministry, which had suspended the scandal-ridden WFI in December, to follow suit.
United World Wrestling had suspended WFI on August 23 last year after the national federation failed to hold elections in time despite multiple warnings. In the WFI elections held in December last year Sanjay Singh, was elected president. The new WFI chief, a close aide and loyalist of the politically powerful former (for forms sake only) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused of multiple counts of sexual harrassment of women wrestlers, has been at loggerheads with the ad-hoc committee set up by the ministry to run the sport from the get-go.
The two bodies held separate national championships recently, with the Sports Ministry warning the WFI of legal action. In a letter addressed to Sanjay Singh, the Sports Ministry had reiterated that any tournament hosted by them would be considered unsanctioned and unrecognized competitions.
Cut to the present, the world body said, “The UWW Bureau met on February 9 to review the suspension among other topics and considering all the elements and information, it decided to lift the suspension.”
The decision means Indian wrestlers will be able to compete under the country’s flag at the next UWW event. Under the suspension, the Indian wrestlers had to compete under a UWW flag.
So what remains for the three principal faces of the more than year-long protests against Brij Bhushan – Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia? “Grin and bear it” about sums it up.
UWW did leave them with a meaningless “assurance” it must be said. The world body stated: “The WFI has to immediately provide UWW with written guarantees that all wrestlers will be considered for participation without any discrimination in all WFI events, in particular trials for the Olympic Games and any other major national and international events. This non-discrimination includes the three athletes who protested against alleged wrongdoings by the former president.”
Really? Only “three athletes” had protested? It needs noting for the record that the case filed against Brij Bhushan was brought against the powerful politician by six adult women wrestlers and one minor, where the charges included outraging modesty and criminal intimidation.
The UWW’s willful rewriting of the facts of the case notwithstanding, it issued the following statement:
“The United World Wrestling has lifted the suspension on the Wrestling Federation of India with immediate effect.
“UWW had placed the WFI under provisional suspension on August 23 last year after the Indian body failed to hold an election in due course. The UWW Disciplinary Chamber decided that it had sufficient grounds to impose the provisional suspension on the body as the situation in the federation prevailed for at least six months.
“The UWW Bureau met on February 9 to review the suspension among other topics and considering all the elements and information, it decided to lift the suspension under the following conditions:
“The WFI has to re-convene the elections of its Athletes’ Commission. The candidates for this commission shall be active athletes or retired for no longer than four years. The voters shall be exclusively athletes. These elections shall take place during trials or any senior national championships where this operation can take place, but no later than July 1, 2024.
“The WFI has to immediately provide UWW with written guarantees that all wrestlers will be considered for participation without any discrimination in all WFI events, in particular trials for the Olympic Games and any other major national and international events. This non-discrimination includes the three athletes who protested against alleged wrongdoings by the former President.
“UWW remains in touch with the wrestlers and will follow up with them in the coming days.
“This also means that Indian wrestlers will be able to compete under their country’s flag at the next UWW event. Under the suspension, the Indian wrestlers had to compete under a UWW flag.”
