Vinesh keen on Budapest meet, WFI polls timeline set
Vinesh Phogat, who has led the protest with fellow wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik demanding the arrest of former wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment of women wrestlers, has expressed interest in returning to competition by next month.
The two-time Worlds medallist is seeking entry in the international ranking series event to be held in Budapest from July 13-16. Phogat has sent a proposal to SAI to consider her name, according to persons aware of the development. However, it may not be easy. The last date for sending entries was Tuesday. Besides, Indian wrestlers had not planned to take part in Budapest due to the Asian Games trials, which were expected to be held around the time. The ad hoc committee running the wrestling administration sent a mail to the world body (UWW) requesting a deadline extension so that a team can go, in case the trials are held earlier. UWW is yet to respond. SAI didn’t respond to a query on the issue.
Phogat and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Punia had in March sent a proposal to SAI seeking permission to attend overseas training camps. Phogat wanted a 11-day training camp in Spala, Poland and Punia a 16-day stint in in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. Both pulled out after receiving approvals as they resumed their sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in April. The protesting wrestlers have shown interest in entering the trials but want more time to prepare. However, July 15 is the deadline for sending the final entry for the Hangzhou Games.
The Budapest tournament is the last ranking tournament and carries valuable points to qualify for the world championships in Serbia (Sept 16-24), which is a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics. The protest has been suspended following union sports minister Anurag Thakur’s assurance that Delhi Police will file a charge-sheet by Thursday.
Phogat, who was in Patiala on Sunday to support the farmers’ protest, has not competed in any major tournament this year. She won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the Serbia world championships last September. Phogat and Punia were the only two medallists at the worlds and had been expected to smoothly qualify for Paris.
WFI polls on July 6
Election to the suspended Wrestling Federation of India will be held on July 6, as per the notification issued by returning officer, former Jammu & Kashmir chief justice, Mahesh Mittal Kumar. Elections will be held for the posts of president, senior vice-president, vice-president (4), secretary general (1), treasurer (1), joint secretary (2) and executive member (5). The last date for filing nominations is June 19. Elections will be held during the Special General Meeting on July 6 and results will be declared the same day.
“… all the recognised Wrestling Federations of the states/UTs under the ratified constitution of the WFI and the guidelines of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Govt. of India are hereby called upon to nominate two (2) persons each of the respective associations who are the members of executive body of such State/UT Units, for the purpose of constituting the electoral college for the ensuing general election to elect members of the Executing Committee,” as per the election notification issued on Tuesday.
Wrestling officials loyal to Brij Bhushan said the former president is still expected to have a say in the outcome of the elections.
“Netaji (Brij Bhushan) is not going anywhere. He still has enough loyalists in most, if not all, state units. Most state associations will forward the names of their president and secretary general as two representatives,” said ID Nanavati, WFI senior vice-president in the previous set-up and president of the Gujarat State Wrestling Association.
Delhi association president, Jai Prakash, said: “There is no clarity on the names yet but we will go by the book. It is still too early to comment. We will discuss the names internally and send them to the returning officer.”
The elections, tentatively announced earlier as July 4, were finalised after Justice Kumar met the ad hoc committee head Bhupender Singh Bajwa on Tuesday.
(With inputs from Shantanu Srivastava)
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
