India lobbies for wrestling’s cause

The sports ministry has asked the full membership of the International Olympic Committee to take up the matter of wrestling at the 125th session of the world body in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and retain the game in the category of core sports in the 2020 Olympic Games.

In a letter to all IOC members, sports secretary P.K. Deb has said that wrestling, which combines the freestyle (men and women) and the Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics held in Athens in 1886 and has been a core sport from the first Olympics onwards.

“It was a part of the ancient Olympics too. The exclusion of the discipline from the core sports of Olympics is against tradition, which is so much a part of the Olympics,” Deb wrote. “In modern times, wrestling has immense popularity and fan following world-wide. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that 71 countries participated in wrestling events in the London Olympic 2012, to full houses.

“The decision of the executive board of the IOC not to include wrestling in the core sports for 2020 Olympics will severely affect the sustenance of the game in future,” the letter added.

The letter also said the Govt of India believed that the decision to exclude wrestling from the 25 core sports needed to be reconsidered in view of the fact it wrestling not only had universal appeal, but was also very affordable.