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With entries sent and trials pending, whom are you fooling wrestling body of India?
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Thursday courted controversy by sending the names of wrestlers to the United World Wrestling (UWW) for the World Championships, days before even conducting the trials.
A series of developments across the span of a week is proving out to be testimonials of the skewed settlements Indian sports federations are opting for. A week after the Boxing Federation of India gave an uncontested World Championship berth to six-time world champion boxer Mary Kom, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Thursday courted controversy by sending the names of wrestlers to the United World Wrestling (UWW) for the World Championships, days before even conducting the trials. August 15 being the deadline set by UWW for sending names for World Championships, according to a Times of India report, the WFI has surprisingly sent the list of names to avoid a huge penalty. While trials for the tournament have already been conducted for most of the categories, the remaining weight category trials will be conducted next week. One of the major categories whose trial is pending is the men's 74 kg freestyle, famous for the participation of two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar. 
Sushil Kumar has struggled off late to keep his form Similar to Mary Kom's selection, WFI's move somewhat exposes its partisanship with Sushil Kumar. Though in boxing, Mary Kom is the reigning World Champion and had proved her mettle by winning the President's Cup last month, Sushil has struggled off late to keep his form after he was derailed in just 90 seconds in the quarterfinal of the Medved International Tournament in Belarus, last week. 
Sushil Kumar will contest Jitender in the trials of the 74 kg wrestling. However, if the result does not turn out to be in Sushil's favour, WFI has already made an elaborate blueprint for flouting the UWW rules. Apparently, the UWW is not aware of the fact that the WFI has not conducted the trials. In an interview with Times of India, one of the sources from the Federation revealed. “We have told the UWW that nine of our wrestlers, including Sushil, are unfit. They will submit their fitness certificate on August 19 and 20. We have informed the world body that if there are any changes in the names sent on August 15, that will be purely on medical grounds, fitness etc. We haven’t told the UWW that we are conducting trials after the last date for submission of names has expired. The UWW won’t accept the entries and reject them all.”
What's the point of trials if selections are already made?
While the women's freestyle trials will be held at the SAI centre in Lucknow on August 19, the men's trials will take place the next day at the IGI Stadium in Delhi The latest development, however, have stemmed up questions on the authenticity and seriousness of the trials WFI plans to conduct, since the names of the wrestlers have been forwarded beforehand. Sushil Kumar has struggled off late to keep his form Similar to Mary Kom's selection, WFI's move somewhat exposes its partisanship with Sushil Kumar. Though in boxing, Mary Kom is the reigning World Champion and had proved her mettle by winning the President's Cup last month, Sushil has struggled off late to keep his form after he was derailed in just 90 seconds in the quarterfinal of the Medved International Tournament in Belarus, last week. Favouritism for Sushil?
A somewhat biased move had given Sushil the preference over others as far as participation in the Belarus event. However, the trials were supposed to be a tough challenge for Sushil, who was expected to fight Jitender and Amit Dhankar. Parveen Rana had already pulled out of the trials owing to injury, and now Dhankar has also followed the suit. Irrespective of the recent setbacks, Sushil might still be the favourite to win the trials when he goes up against Jitender. Sushil Kumar will contest Jitender in the trials of the 74 kg wrestling. However, if the result does not turn out to be in Sushil's favour, WFI has already made an elaborate blueprint for flouting the UWW rules. Apparently, the UWW is not aware of the fact that the WFI has not conducted the trials. In an interview with Times of India, one of the sources from the Federation revealed. “We have told the UWW that nine of our wrestlers, including Sushil, are unfit. They will submit their fitness certificate on August 19 and 20. We have informed the world body that if there are any changes in the names sent on August 15, that will be purely on medical grounds, fitness etc. We haven’t told the UWW that we are conducting trials after the last date for submission of names has expired. The UWW won’t accept the entries and reject them all.” Sushil has not attended any of the national selection trials after last featuring at the 2018 Asian Games and has not been a part of the national camp as well. Though the WFI did not give him an exemption from the trials, he is already believed to be qualified for the World Championship next month based on the assumption that he will easily defeat Jitender in the trials. The Wrestling Federation of India is casually bypassing the regulations set by the UWW despite being fully aware of the risk that the world body might end up cancelling India's participation rights at the World Championship. A gamble-like step by the WFI might end up proving detrimental for Indian wrestling.The same source added, “So, let’s say if we are sending Sushil’s name tomorrow (Thursday), assuming that he’ll win the trial comfortably, then his entry will remain. But in case he loses, then we will update the system with the name of winning wrestler, telling the UWW that Sushil has been declared unfit and this particular wrestler in his weight category has reported fit for the championships."
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