NEW DELHI: Wrestling Federation of India president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, who has been hogging the media limelight for all the wrong reasons in the aftermath of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, on Thursday offered up some news that could prove a big boost for the sport IF even some of it all, comes to fruition.
Also, there is admittedly a good deal of scepticism that perforce comes into play when processing claims made by top functionaries of Indian sports federations so this website will prefer to “watch and wait” till “jaw, jaw” translates into action on the ground.
Returning to comments made by Singh to PTI. As per the WFI president, the Uttar Pradesh government has adopted wrestling and is expected to pump in an investment of Rs 1.7 billion in infrastructure and support to wrestlers till the 2032 Olympics.
Singh told the newswire said that the WFI took inspiration from the Odisha government’s support to the sport of hockey and they approached the UP government for a similar assistance to their game.
“Odisha is a small state, yet they are supporting hockey in such a great manner, so we thought, why can’t UP, which is such a big state, support wrestling. We approached them and the CM Yogi Adityanath has accepted it,” Singh said.
“In our proposal, we have asked for Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) support every year till the 2024 Games (Rs 300m in all) and in the next Olympic cycle till 2028, we have asked for a support of Rs 15 crore per year (Rs 600m in all) and in the final phase till 2032, it is Rs 20 crore per year (Rs 800m),” Singh elaborated.
“With this happening, sponsorships will not be restricted to just the country’s elite wrestlers. Even the cadet level wrestlers will get sponsorship and we will able to give prize money to even national champions.”
Singh also mentioned the support Tata Motors had extended to the WFI in 2018 as principal sponsors of Indian wrestling. A partnership which had brought with it a financial succour of Rs 120 million that allowed the federation to provide central contracts to wrestlers till the Tokyo Games.
As per PTI, the partnership will be renewed Friday with a fresh deal.
As far as the deal with the UP government is concerned, Singh said it would allow WFI to plan exposure trips to foreign countries even for India’s Cadet level wrestlers.
“As of now, only the senior and elite level wrestlers have personal coaches and guidance of foreign coaches. But we can even invest heavily in training of our cadet and junior wrestlers also. “Now we can send our Cadet wrestlers abroad for training and exposure. We need to take wrestling to the next level,” he said.
For the record, WFI currently extends a financial support to 60 junior (Rs 7500 per month stipend) and Cadet (Rs 5000 per month) wrestlers.
PTI raised the matter of the “elephant in the room” with the WFI president: his recent distasteful attacks on institutions like JSW Sport and Olympic Gold Quest that have a proven track record in the way they have supported athletes from various sports disciplines, where his biggest grouse appeared to be that said organisations did not operate under the WFI’s “guidance”.
Asked about this, Singh said the door is open “but with a condition”.
“We actually did not need them even before (seriously?). But if they want to support, they are welcome. All we want is that they stay transparent (if only that requirement would extend to the functioning of many an Indian sports federation) with WFI. They can’t make their own secret deals with the wrestlers. If at all they want to help, they can sit with us and prepare plans with us,” Singh said. There we have it. Singh’s biggest concern, as is the case with many sports federation heads in India, is the potential loss of control over the fate of the athletes under their “watch”.
On to the other wish lists that WFI chief has as far as the support from the UP government is concerned. Singh said the WFI sends wrestlers to foreign countries for exposure and training but they want to put a system in place where top international wrestlers come to India and train here.
“Let me tell you that we will have state-of-the-art wrestling academies in India for both men and women. One academy in Lucknow will surely come up and we are hopeful that another is developed in Noida, where we will invite international wrestlers to come, stay and train with our wrestlers (to make clear again, this is all currently only in the realm of hopes and not actions on the ground).
“I told the CM that we want international wrestlers to come to India. It should help our Indian wrestlers. Why should they go out all the time and stay away. We will give them best sparring partners in India.”
All well and good, Mr Singh. Now what is awaited is concrete agreements signed, sealed and (hopefully) delivered sooner rather than…?
