Indian referee Ashok Kumar to officiate wrestling bouts in Tokyo Olympics

The United World Wrestling (UWW), the governing body of the sport, has nominated Kumar.

In an interview with IANS, Kumar told, "I'm the only Indian referee selected by the UWW. I will be officiating bouts during the Olympics. There was a selection process to select candidates for the Olympics and I successfully cleared those norms," Kumar told IANS.

The 50-year-old Kumar was part of the selection process which started at the 2019 World Wrestling Championship in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, followed by the Asian Olympics Qualifiers held last month in Almaty. His final selection took place during the World Olympic Qualifiers in Sofia, Bulgaria in May.

An employee of the Indian Air Force, Kumar was also nominated to officiate bouts during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Having got his international referee licence in 2005, Kumar has officiated in more than 100 international tournaments, including the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Jakarta Asian Games in the same year. He is also the coach of the Indian Air Force wrestling team.