The United World Wrestling (UWW) taking exception to acts of ‘indiscipline’ and ‘unprofessional’ behaviour by some Indian grapplers and making the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) take disciplinary action against four top athletes, including Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari, has come as a wake-up call for the National body.
Even though the sport has provided three of the country’s nine medals in the last two Olympics and seen the birth of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) in India last year, the WFI is yet to emerge as one of the most professionally-run federations in the country.
The recent act of ‘indiscipline’ by the wrestlers in international events dented India’s image. It is learnt that the Phogat sisters, who are World championship medallists, forfeiting their women’s 58kg and 53kg bronze medal matches after missing Olympic qualification in the qualifying event in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, upset UWW president Nenad Lalovic, who has been trying to bring in professionalism to the sport.
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Nevertheless, WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was present at Ulaanbaatar, reacted to the situation quickly and saved the country from further embarrassment of being debarred from the above-mentioned weights in the remaining qualifying event starting in Istanbul from May 6.
“Brij Bhushan assured the UWW president that appropriate disciplinary action would be taken against the erring wrestlers,” said a source close to the WFI top brass.
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Sumit, a 125kg freestyle wrestler who also allegedly withdrawn from his weight ‘without following proper procedure’, and Rahul Aware, a 57kg grappler who did not board the flight to the camp in Georgia, have been served show-cause notices as well.
“You cannot withdraw midway through the competition without any valid reason. We have served show-cause notices to the erring wrestlers and they have to reply within 15 days following which a final decision will be taken,” said WFI secretary V.N. Prasood.
Meanwhile, the WFI has replaced Geeta, Babita and Sumit with Sakshi Malik, Lalita and Hitender respectively for the Istanbul event, practically closing the possibility of these wrestlers’ qualification for the Rio Olympics.
While Geeta has reportedly said that she withdrew from the bronze medal match to save herself from any possible injury, others are yet to react over the issue.
The WFI has let off Vinesh Phogat (48kg), who was found overweight in Ulaanbaatar, with a warning.