The suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) going ahead with the senior national championships in Pune from Monday has put the wrestlers in a dilemma. With the Indian Olympic Association's ad hoc panel to organise the nationals in Jaipur from February 2-5, many wrestlers may choose to appear in both.
The union sports ministry has already announced that any championships organised by the WFI suspended by it will be treated as "unsanctioned and unrecognised competitions". It also said that medals and certificates from such WFI competitions will not be considered as eligibility under any government scheme or job.
For the WFI-conducted Pune championships, the deadline for submitting entries is Sunday while competition will take place from Monday to Wednesday.
Some of WFI's state associations raised the issue during the federation's executive committee meeting. It was learnt that the Punjab state unit is yet to decide on sending its team. "We sought a response from WFI on the status of the tournament after the sports ministry's letter. We don't want our wrestlers to suffer," said Kartar Singh, Punjab Wrestling Association president and vice-president of the newly-elected WFI.
"WFI has yet to respond on the matter. We cannot send our wrestlers unless we have clarity on whether WFI's championships will be recognised, whether it can hold national camps and select national teams. We will seek the answer from the ad hoc panel on their nationals before deciding on sending our wrestlers," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"WFI has yet to respond on the matter. We cannot send our wrestlers unless we have clarity on whether WFI's championships will be recognised, whether it can hold national camps and select national teams. We will seek the answer from the ad hoc panel on their nationals before deciding on sending our wrestlers," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Railways and Services -- the two government units -- will not field teams for the WFI's nationals. Delhi Amateur Wrestling Association, on the other hand, has held the trials and will send a 30-member team to Pune, as per the notice issued by the state body on January 22.
Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association (HAWA), which is divided into two factions, held separate trials causing much confusion among wrestlers. HAWA president Rohtas Singh organised the trials in Sonepat on January 17-18 to select the team for the Jaipur nationals while HAWA general secretary Rakesh Singh, who is with WFI, conducted separate trials in Bahadurgarh on January 13-14 and selected the team for the championships in Pune.
"It is a very bad situation on the ground. Some wrestlers competed in both the trials and some will also participate in both championships," said a coach who was earlier with the national team.
"WFI is an elected body and it has the right to organise national championships. Though it is currently suspended, we don't know when that might be lifted and then they will send national teams. So, no wrestler would want to take a chance. Even the match officials cannot take any stand because they are under the federation," the coach said.
A WFI senior functionary said it was looking forward to good participation in Pune.
"We will have at least 22 of the 25 state units competing. We will take a stand against those states and boards who do not participate. But we want all issues to be sorted; we are hopeful it will be done at the earliest," the WFI official said.