Sports

Indian gov’t tells IOA to appoint temporary body to manage wrestling federation

New Delhi, Dec 24 (EFE).- The Indian government urged the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Sunday to form an ad-hoc committee to temporarily administer the Wrestling Federation (WFI).

The circular by the government comes hours after it suspended the WFI executive committee, formed three days earlier, over concerns about its integrity.

“It is requested that an Ad-Hoc committee may be constituted by the IOA to manage and control the affairs of WFI (…) including the selection of athletes,” the sports ministry said in a circular to the IOA.

“Taking note of the compelling current situation arising out of the influence and control of the WFI’s former office bearers, serious concerns have arisen about the governance and integrity of the WFI,” the letter said.

“This requires for immediate and stringent corrective measures to uphold the principles of good governance in sports organizations, and thus, now it becomes incumbent on the part of IOA to make suitable arrangements for the interim period for managing the affairs of WFI so that sportspersons of wrestling discipline do not suffer in any manner,” it added.

Earlier during the day, the Indian government suspended the WFI executive committee after its new chief Sanjay Singh announced that two national competitions would be held at the end of the year, in breach of the rules of the wrestling body.

The decision, according to the ministry, makes it appear that the new committee is under the control of former officials, some of them, including former president and member of the ruling BJP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, under investigation for alleged sexual harassment of female wrestlers in the WFI.

Sanjay Singh, an ally of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, obtained the majority of votes in Thursday’s election to become WFI chief, causing uproar among elite athletes because of the close relations between the new and the old management.

Allegations of sexual abuse of female wrestlers within the WFI began in January, compounded by the authorities’ initial inaction and the police’s delay in filing charges, led senior wrestlers to camp on the streets of New Delhi for nearly month in protest.

Demonstrators were forcibly evicted from this protest, leaving dramatic images of wrestlers who had made the country proud with their Olympic victories being pushed and carried away by the police.

In August, the world wrestling organization, United World Wrestling, suspended the Indian federation owing to delay in the WFI elections, preventing Indian fighters from representing the country in the World Wrestling Championship in September in Serbia. EFE

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