By Vipul Kashyap
New Delhi [India], March 13 : Following the revocation of the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), an official from the sport's governing body expressed hope that with the federation restored, they would get a sponsorship that would allow them to get a bigger place for their new office.
The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Tuesday lifted the suspension on the Wrestling Federation of India, restoring its recognition as a National Sports Federation (NSF) for the sport.
"As we said earlier that we do not have a budget and sponsor with us because the government imposed suspension on us so we only can manage this place with the budget left with us, but now when suspension is over from us so we hope that we can get sponsorship which help us to get new and big place for our office," an official toldafter the suspe was lifted.
The WFI office currently functions from Hari Nagar in Delhi.
The Sports Ministry had suspended the WFI body after the newly elected WFI president, Sanjay Singh, announced the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals at Nandini Nagar in the Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh in December 2023.
Starting from 2023, several ace wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia spearheaded protests against WFI and its former president Brij Bhushan Singh, alleging him of sexual assault.
In August 2023, United World Wrestling (UWW) put a ban on WFI as it failed to organise elections within a stipulated time following accusations of sexual harassment and protests against ex-president Brij Bhushan Singh by top wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik. An ad hoc committee by the International Olympic Association (IOA) was put in place.
In late December 2023, elections were held, and Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of WFI. However, the wrestlers protested against his election, saying he was an aide of ex-president Brij Bhushan.Days after the elections, the Ministry suspended the federation again, a decision that came after Sanjay had announced the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals at Nandini Nagar in the Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh by the end of the year. An ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was put in place once again to handle the day-to-day affairs of the federation.
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