UWW writes to WFI, underlines athlete registration can be done only by federation

The Ad-hoc Committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Thursday had announced the dates for the trials of the selection of Indian wrestlers for the upcoming Asian Championships and Olympic Games qualifiers.

The trials will take place on March 10 and 11 and will be organized by the Ad-hoc Committee. For men wrestlers the Freestyle and Greco-Roman trials will be held at the Sports Authority of India, Sonipat. While, for the women wrestlers trials will be held at NIS Patiala. The Asian Wrestling Championships will be held from April 11 to 16, while, Asian Olympic Qualifiers will be held from April 19 to 21.

In a letter written to WFI's suspended president Sanjay Singh, the UWW chief wrote, "With this letter, I would like to remind some principles concerning the registration of athletes and delegations in international competitions."

"From the outset, it is reminded here that, after the lifting of the suspension imposed by the UWW on your federation on February 13, 2024, UWW considers your federation as any other affiliated federation, duly functioning in compliance with the UWW regulations, and subject to all rights and obligations conferred by this status."

UWW said that it is the responsibility of the national federation regularly-affiliated to UWW to select and announce their teams for Continental Championships, the World Championships, the Olympic Games Qualifying Tournaments as well as the Ranking Series and other international tournaments on the official calendar.

"The registration can be made only by the UWW-affiliated national federations, using the competition administration system ("Athena") exclusively, under the rules and deadlines provided by our regulations."

"This is in line with the principles enshrined in our rules and regulations and no other entity may take this role on your behalf. The UWW Administration remains available for any question and support concerning the above," concluded the letter.

The United World Wrestling (UWW) in February lifted the suspension on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) 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.

According a the statement, 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.

India's wrestling has seen a major shift since the conclusion of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections. Sports Ministry suspended the WFI body three days later after the newly elected WFI president Sanjay Singh announced the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals at Nandini Nagar in the Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh by the end of the last year.

Following this, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced Bhupinder Singh Bajwa as chairman of the newly created ad-hoc committee to run the day-to-day matters of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with immediate effect.

After Singh's victory in the WFI elections, emotional Sakshi Malik broke down as she left the venue announcing her retirement from wrestling while addressing a press conference in the national capital. Later, Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia and World Championship medalist Vinesh Phogat also returned their government honours. (ANI)