Relief after WFI elections, stalled national competitions will start

The wrestling world is now heaving a sigh of relief that national camps and competitions will finally begin after the formation of the new federation and it does not matter whether Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will continue to take decisions.

The country’s top wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik wanted a woman president to hold the post of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president but Brij Bhushan confidant Sanjay Singh emerged victorious in the elections held on Thursday. Brijbhushan was asked to remain on the sidelines and an ad-hoc committee was formed to handle the day-to-day affairs of the federation, resulting in the national camp and national championship not being held in 2023.

This affected many wrestlers as certificates of participation and medals won in national championships are required to apply for jobs. This affected hundreds of wrestlers because many of them had won medals in the junior category last year. Jagdish Dhanda, a coach at the famous Chhotu Ram Stadium in Rohtak, said, “How does it matter who wins? The elections were held after the intervention of the Supreme Court. There was no coercion. The government was also looking into this matter. ,

He said, “The wrestling game had almost come to a standstill in the last 11 months. It is good that the activities have started immediately after the formation of the new organization. Now national camps will be organized and competitions will be organized. You will not be able to estimate the loss of the last 11 months. When asked how the wrestlers in his stadium reacted to Brij Bhushan maintaining control over the federation through its new chief, Dhanda said, “The wrestlers are neutral. ,

“No one is really talking about it,” Dhanda said. It was clear that Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat were just working for themselves. They wanted to save themselves from trial. Initially no one understood, but later when he did not participate in the Asian Games trials and did not honor what he had said to the Panchayat, people stopped trusting him. ,

Bajrang and Vinesh were exempted from the Asiad trials by the ad-hoc panel and wrestlers in their respective categories even took them to court. Bajrang returned empty-handed from the Hangzhou Asiad and Vinesh suffered an injury due to which she could not participate. The coaches of Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium also had the same reaction. A coach, who did not wish to be named, said, “A strong leadership is needed to run the WFI. You saw how much difficulty the ad-hoc panel faced in taking decisions. They kept changing decisions again and again, so it’s good that the same panel is back. You need experience and he has done a very good job in the last 10-12 years. ,

He said, “Thankfully, now a national competition will be conducted. All wrestlers want competition. We are not on anyone’s side. We just want the betterment of our game. The coach also said that the protesting wrestlers should have tried to resolve the issue through talks. He said, “There may be differences, which can be resolved through dialogue.” Sitting on the road is not a good option. Due to this the game also got discredited. “Parents were also worried that their children’s entire year was ruined,” the coach said. This game is cruel enough that a year is a very long time. ,

National competitions for all age groups usually end by the end of May. At least 120 medals are at stake in these championships. This year only the Under-23 Championship was held. A female wrestler from Haryana said that there would be some hesitation in contacting the federation officials. This wrestler said, “We don’t know what the truth is.” We don’t know whether sexual harassment occurred or not. But believe me, there will be some hesitation. At least initially, if wrestlers need to ask the federation something, we don’t know whether we will be seen as opposing federation officials. ,

The newly elected unit has canceled all the decisions of the ad-hoc committee. Under-15 and Under-20 national competitions have been announced which will be held in Gonda in the last week of December. The general annual meeting will be held on 11 or 12 January in Delhi.

Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.

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