Indian wrestlers won't be able to compete in the upcoming World Championships under the Indian flag...
Digital Desk: Due to the Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) failure to conduct the required elections, the United World Wrestling (UWW) has indefinitely suspended the federation's membership.
The WFI's elections have been significantly postponed as a result of a number of disputes that have arisen. Elections for the wrestling federation, which governs the sport in India, were planned for June 2023. However, a series of protests by Indian wrestlers and legal requests from several state units have caused the elections to be continuously postponed.
Indian wrestlers won't be able to compete in the upcoming World Championships under the Indian flag as the UWW, the organisation that governs wrestling worldwide, suspended the WFI for failing to hold its elections on time.
The ad-hoc body, headed by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, did not adhere to the 45-day timeframe for holding the polls, thus the Indian wrestlers will have to compete at the Olympic-qualifying World Championships beginning on September 16 as "neutral athletes."
On August 12, voting was supposed to take place for the 15 positions on the WFI's governing board. Four candidates submitted their nominations for the position of president on Monday at the Olympic Bhawan in New Delhi, including close friend and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's nominee Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh.
The general secretary job was put forward by the Chandigarh wrestling organization's Darshan Lal, and the treasurer position was put forward by the Brij Bhushan group's SP Deswal of Uttarakhand.
The WFI was suspended twice—first in January, then again in May—after India's top wrestlers challenged its operation and claimed that Brij Bhushan, the organization's then president, had harassed female wrestlers. WFI is currently run on a day-to-day basis by an ad hoc committee that was established by the Indian Olympic Association and is chaired by Bhupender Singh Bajwa.
Notably, the United World Wrestling, the sport's highest authority, threatened to suspend WFI if the elections were postponed.
Both Maharashtra and Tripura will be absent from the elections due to the Returning Officer's determination that both of the former's groups' claims are "ineligible," and Tripura's continued disaffiliation since 2016.
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