Sports Ministry Lifts 15-Month Suspension on Wrestling Federation of India
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): There is a big good news for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) as the Sports Ministry has lifted the suspension imposed on the federation with immediate effect. This decision is a turning point for the WFI, which was surrounded by controversies for the last few years. This move of the Sports Ministry is expected to end the atmosphere of uncertainty prevailing in the federation.
The Sports Ministry had imposed a suspension on the Sanjay Singh-led executive committee of the WFI accusing it of violating the National Sports Code. However, now the ministry has withdrawn its suspension order, thereby re-recognising the WFI. Earlier, wrestling's global governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW), had also lifted the suspension from the Sanjay Singh-led WFI last year. Following these developments, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also decided to dissolve the Bhupinder Singh Bajwa-led ad-hoc committee that was looking after the daily affairs of wrestling in India.
WFI Executive Committee chairman Sanjay Singh had already got relief from UWW and IOA, but he was waiting for the green signal from the central government, which has now ended with the latest decision of the Sports Ministry. The government had earlier taken action against WFI citing violation of rules and suspended the federation just three days after the elections were completed.
The committee led by Sanjay Singh, considered close to former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, won the elections on December 21, 2023. After winning the elections, the new executive had announced to organize Under-15 and Under-20 National Championships. However, the government had objections to the venue of this championship – Nandini Nagar in Gonda, which is considered to be the stronghold of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The government considered it a violation of the rules and took the tough step of suspending the WFI on December 24, 2023.
Indian wrestlers were facing a lot of difficulties due to the suspension of WFI. A situation of conflict had arisen between the federation and the Sports Ministry, due to which the wrestlers were suffering the most. However, with the lifting of the suspension, the way has now been cleared for organizing domestic wrestling tournaments. There will also be no ambiguity regarding the selection of wrestlers for international competitions. The Sports Ministry has said in its latest order that the suspension is being withdrawn keeping in mind the corrective steps taken by the WFI. With this decision, the Sports Ministry has officially lifted the suspension imposed on the WFI after about 15 months, which is likely to start a new chapter in Indian wrestling.
