WFI elections: Final list of candidates released, Kartar in race for vice-president’s post

Veteran wrestler Kartar Singh is among the five candidates in the fray for the four posts of vice-president in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections to be held on August 12. Kartar, who won gold medals at the Bangkok (1978) and Seoul (1986) Asian Games, has been the Secretary General of the WFI in the past and has many years of administrative experience. Besides him, Asit Kumar Saha (Bengal), Jai Prakash (Delhi), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) and N Phoni (Manipur) are in the race for the post of vice-president. The post of president will see a direct fight between outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh loyalist Sanjay Kumar Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Anita Sheoran. It is learned that Anita, 38, has the support of six wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, who staged a sit-in against Brij Bhushan at Jantar Mantar.

Interestingly, Anita is also a witness in the sexual harassment case against Brij Bhushan. Four candidates are in the fray for the two posts of joint secretary while seven candidates are in the fray for five posts of the executive committee, according to the official list released by Justice (retd) MM Kumar, who has been appointed returning officer for these elections, on Monday. The Brij Bhushan faction has filed nominations for all the 15 posts and according to reports it is a contender to win several key posts. ID Nanavati of Brijbhushan faction and Devendra Kadian of Assam will contest for the post of senior vice president. The Assam Wrestling Association was included in the list of voters. Assam’s inclusion in the list was approved by an ad-hoc committee set up by the Indian Olympic Association following an order by the Gauhati High Court. Elections will be held for the posts of President (1), Senior Vice President (1), Vice President (4), General Secretary (1), Treasurer (1), Joint Secretary (2) and Executive Member (5). Rohtas Singh (Haryana), the candidate for the post of Joint Secretary, has reportedly left the Brij Bhushan faction and joined the opposition camp. “We will not vote for him in the elections to be held on August 12,” a member of the Brij Bhushan faction said on the condition of anonymity.

The final list for the election is as follows: Speaker: Anita Sheoran, Sanjay Kumar Singh. Senior Vice President: Devender Kadian, ID Nanavati. Vice President: Asit Kumar Saha, Jai Prakash, Kartar Singh, Mohan Yadav, N. Phoney. General Secretaries: Darshan Lal, Prem Chand Lochab. Treasurer: Dushyant Sharma, Satyapal Singh Deshwal. Joint Secretaries: Belipadi Gunranjan Shetty, Kuldeep Singh, RK Purushottam, Rohtash Singh. Executive Members: Ajay Vaid, M. Loganathan, Navikuoli Khatsi, Prashant Rai, Rajneesh Kumar, Ratul Sarma, Ummed Singh.

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