The Union Sports Ministry suspended the newly elected body of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) after Sanjay Singh, the president of the wrestling governing body, confirmed that the U-15 and U-20 nationals will take place in Nandini Nagar, Gonda (UP) before the end of the 2023 season. According to an official release, the Sports Ministry has pointed out that the announcement is hasty, without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers who are to take part in the nationals.
The recent announcements of the aforementioned competitions have also been made without following the provisions of the constitution of WFI. The Sports Ministry has stated that the new WFI committee has shown ‘blatant disregard for the established legal and procedural norms’. The ministry said that the business of the Federation is being run from the premises controlled by former office bearers. Elected as the president of the WFI on Thursday, Singh is known to be a close confidante of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was earlier accused of sexual harassment by wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia.
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What the Sports Ministry said
Bhushan gained indirect control over the wrestling federation as Singh bagged most of the votes in the delayed polls. “Such decisions (holding nationals) are to be taken by Executive Committee, before which agendas are required to be placed for consideration. As per Article XI of the WFI constitution under the Heading ‘Notices and Quorum for Meetings’, minimum notice period for EC meeting is 15 clear days and quorum is of 1/3rd of representatives. Even for Emergency EC meeting, minimum notice period is 7 clear days with quorum requirement of 1/3rd of representatives,” the ministry said in its press release.
Bajrang returns Padma Shri, Sakshi announces retirement
Earlier, India’s top wrestlers Vinesh, Sakshi and Bajrang rejected the appointment of Singh at WFI. Protesting against the election of Singh as WFI president, Olympic medallist grappler Bajrang returned his Padma Shri award to the government. Before Bajrang returned the top award to the government, Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi asserted that she wouldn’t step on the mat anymore as Bhushan’s close aide was named the new WFI president. The only Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal, Sakshi announced her retirement from the sport after Singh won 13 of the 15 posts in the elections.
