The sports ministry will shortly lift the suspension imposed on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), allowing the federation’s executive body—led by Sanjay Singh, a close aide to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh—to convene selection trials for the Paris Olympics qualifiers, according to a report from Rev Sportz.
Sources claim that the ministry will order the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to resolve the issues plaguing the nation’s wrestling community and provide a resolution to the group of wrestlers, which includes the three wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshee Malikkh, who are protesting.
Notably, in the hours following the results announcement in December, the Ministry suspended the newly elected WFI body. After the Supreme Court ordered elections to be held on December 21, the Ministry promptly suspended the WFI and requested that an ad hoc committee be formed by the Indian Olympic Association to oversee the sport in India.
The three-member IOA-run ad hoc committee is probably going to be dissolved soon, giving Sanjay Singh’s panel control over WFI operations. It has been discovered that before lifting the suspension, the ministry would not prefer to wait until the trials, which are scheduled to end on March 10 and 11 at the IG stadium. The ad hoc body will not proceed with its proposal to hold separate trials in Sonepat and Patiala on the same dates.
