Paris Olympics: Why India might not be able to send entries for wrestling qualifiers

Plunging from one crisis to another for the past one year, Indian wrestling is now staring at a situation where, unless a last-minute solution is found, it might not be able to register entries for the Olympic qualification tournament next month.

The situation arose on Friday after the sport’s world governing body declared that it would accept names of athletes for the all-important tournament only if the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) would send them.

By doing so, the United World Wrestling (UWW) has essentially snatched all the powers from the Indian Olympic Association-appointed ad hoc committee, which was scheduled to conduct the trials on Sunday and Monday following a Delhi High Court order.

In a letter to WFI president Sanjay Singh, the UWW chief Nenad Lalovic underlined that the athlete ‘registration can be made only by the UWW affiliated national federations… and no other entity may take this role on your behalf.’

The interim body running the sport in India, meanwhile, did not sound too perturbed. “The trial will take place as scheduled. Regarding the entries, we are confident of finding a solution,” an official told this newspaper.

The UWW’s diktat, however, has led to a head-scratching situation.

Consider this: the WFI – headed by Sanjay, a close confidante of beleaguered former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh – is recognised by the world body but the committee is suspended by the government and, by extension, the IOA. On Thursday, the Delhi High Court ordered the ad-hoc body that was running the sport to conduct the trials, sidelining the WFI. Now, the UWW, citing its rules, has said it won’t accept India’s entries if it isn’t sent by the WFI.

Sanjay said ‘everything is in the government’s hands.’ “In the current situation, the government should understand and figure out a solution. The UWW has made it clear through its letter that it won’t accept entries sent by anyone else. So the government should take note of it so that our country isn’t disrespected and the athletes don’t suffer,” he told The Indian Express.

The WFI chief, sidelined following the government notification in December last year, sounded open to the suggestion that the ad hoc committee conducts trials, as per the court’s order, while his association sends the entries to the world body. “This also can be done. Although I have to see the rules,” he said.

This is the latest in a series of crises that have gripped Indian wrestling over the last year after some of the country’s top wrestlers – Olympic medallist wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat – accused former WFI president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan of sexually harassing women wrestlers.

After a months-long protest against him, Brij Bhushan was charge-sheeted and he later ‘retired’ from wrestling affairs. However, his close aide Sanjay was elected as his successor. Consequently, Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh moved the Delhi High Court to declare the WFI election held in December 2023 illegal on the grounds that the federation was not compliant with the national sports code.

The trio also sought the court’s intervention in the “illegal action” of the “suspended” WFI in conducting selection trials. During a hearing on Thursday, the WFI told the single-judge Bench of Justice Sachin Datta that it will not hold the competition, thus paving the way for the ad-hoc committee to conduct the event.

However, that did not go down too well with the UWW. In his letter to Sanjay, Lalovic ‘reminded’ his Indian counterpart of ‘some principles concerning the registration of athletes and delegations in international competitions.’

“It is the responsibility of the national federations regularly affiliated to UWW to select and announce their teams for the Continental Championships, the World Championships, the Olympic Games Qualifying Tournaments… 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 letter stated.

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