Newly-elected WFI body writes to UWW for removal of the suspension

The newly-elected body of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) requested the world governing body United World Wrestling (UWW) to lift the ban imposed on it after the fresh elections on Friday.

WFI also announced that it will host the senior National Championships from January 28 in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar.

A day after taking charge of the federation, president Sanjay Singh said the resumption of competitions is the new body's priority. Hours after getting elected on Thursday, the new federation officials had decided to host U15 and U20 Nationals in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.

"We wrote to the UWW today that the ban imposed on WFI should now be lifted as elections have been held democratically. I am sure the suspension will end soon," Sanjay Singh told PTI.

The United World Wrestling (UWW) suspended WFI on August 23 for not holding timely elections that were delayed due to various court cases.

"The wrestlers, both junior and senior, have suffered a lot in the last few months for lack of competitions. Our priority is to restart the competitions. We are working towards that.

"Senior Nationals will be hosted by Maharashtra. The states have also announced their trials for the senior Nationals," said the new WFI boss.

No National Championship, except for U23, was held in the year 2023 in which the WFI was banned for not hosting elections on time.

The 13 of the 15 elected members from the Birj Bhushan Sharan Singh panel had met at a city hotel here and discussed the way forward on Thursday.

New secretary general Prem Chand Lochab and senior vice-president Devender Singh Kadian did not attend the meeting. Both are from the Anita Sheoran panel that could win only two of the 15 posts.

The first General Body Meeting (GBM) of the newly-elected federation will be held either on January 11 or 12, 2024, in New Delhi.