Former Wrestling Federation Of India chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has welcomed sports ministry’s decision to revoke suspension on the wrestling body. Speaking to ANI after the decision, Sharan said, “This struggle lasted for about 26 months and today the Wrestling Federation has been reinstated by the government. Therefore, we want to thank the government and the Sports Minister.”
He added,” If anyone has suffered due to this, it is the players and junior players… The conspirators who were involved in this, their intentions were not fulfilled. We will only say that the federation should conduct all the wrestling tournaments that used to happen earlier…”
Rules set by ministry to revoke suspension
The ministry, though, has asked the WFI to follow certain directions, such as the federation has to ensure that there is a balance of power among the elected office bearers, and it keeps itself disassociated from the suspended/terminated officials.
The ministry in its order said, “The EC of the WFI must give an undertaking in this regard within 4 weeks.Any violation of the undertaking will invite appropriate legal action, including the action under the Sports Code,”.
The order further said, “It also said that the WFI must ensure that the selection for all international events should be done in a free, fair and transparent manner as per the extant provisions of the Sports Code and the other latest instructions issued in this regard along with regulations issued from time-to-time by the UWW (United World Wrestling),”
The Indian wrestlers missed out on competing in Ranking Series tournaments in Zagreb and Albania due to the ministry suspension and the court cases filed by prominent wrestlers, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Satyawart Kadian.
The court had directed the Indian Olympic Association to restore the ad-hoc panel for managing the WFI but the sports body had refused, saying UWW, the world governing body, recognises only the WFI and won’t accept entries from the ad-hoc panel.
(With PTI Inputs)
