The International Olympic Committee has backed the move by the United World Wrestling to lift the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India. In August last year, the membership of the federation was canceled indefinitely. The reason behind this was revealed for not holding the election for the post of President. After the WFI election held in December, the UWW met on the 9th of February to review the situation and decided to lift the suspension.
UWW has also asked the WFI to reconvene the election of its Athletes’ Commission and give guarantees that the three athletes (Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik) who protested against alleged wrongdoings by the previous WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will be considered for participation without any discrimination in all the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) events, trials for the Olympic Games and other major national and international events.
A seven-member Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaint Committee has also been named. The IOC, at an exclusive two day meeting at Lausanne, Switzerland, took note of the development.
Once again, the Indian wrestlers would be able to compete in all major and international tournaments under the Indian flag.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Atharva Shetye.
