World wrestling body lifts ban on Indian wrestling body
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New Delhi: Allowing Indian athletes to compete in international games, the United World Wrestling (UWW) lifted the suspension on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Tuesday, The Indian Express reported.
UWW said that the lift of the ban is conditional. It suspended the Indian wrestling body after the latter failed to conduct elections.
UWW made the WFI, helmed by sexual harassment accused and BJP MP Brij Bhushan’s close aid, Sanjay Singh, to make a deal with it that it should provide ‘written guarantees that all wrestlers will be considered for participation without any discrimination’. UWW said that the written guarantee includes the three athletes who protested against alleged wrongdoings by the former President, Brij Bhushan.
The said three athletes were Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who were the leaders of a protest against Bhushan.
WFI president Singh told TIE that he would personally invite the three wrestlers to participate in the trials for Olympic qualification tournament, which will be held in April.
However, Sakshi had announced her retirement following Sanjay’s appointment. Vinesh won a gold medal at the National Championship, which was her first tournament in more than a year. Meanwhile, Bajrang is preparing for the trials in Russia.
Sanjay told TIE that he had held talks with UWW. He will invite the three wrestlers, he said and added that every wrestler eligible will be allowed to take part in the tournament.
However, the status of the Indian wrestling body is though it has been recognised by UWW, it is suspended domestically, TIE reports.