IOA’s ad hoc panel takes control of wrestling body

THE AD HOC COMMITTEE WAS FORMED ON APRIL 27 WITH WUSHU ASSOCIATION OF INDIA PRESIDENT BHUPENDER AND RIFLE COACH SUMA AS ITS MEMBERS

NEW DELHI: The ad hoc committee formed to run the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Saturday took full administrative and financial control of the body following a written directive from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). In a letter sent by IOA joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey (copy with HT), IOA made it* clear that the ad hoc committee will carry out all the functions of WFI as enunciated in the Sports Code.

The ad hoc committee was formed on April 27 with Wushu Association of India president Bhupender Singh Bajwa and rifle coach Suma Shirur as members. The third member — a retired high court judge — is yet to be appointed. The panel has till June 10 to announce dates for

WFI elections. The panel has already announced dates for trials and also shifted the women’s senior camp, which used to be held in Lucknow, to NIS Patiala.

The sit-in protest by the wrestlers at Jantar Mantar completed three weeks on Saturday. “With the ad hoc committee being in existence, the outgoing officebearers of WFI shall have no role with respect to the exercise of any function of the NSF for wrestling and shall not perform any administrative, financial, regulatory or any other role,” said the IOA letter, which is also marked to the union sports ministry and WFI secretary general.

WFI confirmed the transfer of authority. “It’s a procedural mandate. Running the federation is ad hoc committee’s prerogative and we shall support them in every way,” a federation official said. Passwords of WFI’s bank accounts and online database have been handed over to the committee.

“Since the banks are shut over the weekend, the process of signing the bank documents will happen on Monday. As of now, WFI’s bank documents bear the signature of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The new documents will have the signatures of Bajwa,” the official said.

WFI secretary general VN Prasood said they have no issues in sharing all the relevant documents with the IOA panel. “When the oversight committee was formed, then also we gave them all the necessary files. Now the ad hoc panel is there, we will give them whatever documents they need,” Prasood told PTI.

The ad-hoc committee has already finalised the rules and regulations related to the conduct of selection trials for picking the Indian teams for 2023 U-17 and U-23 Asian Wrestling Championships.

The trials, scheduled to be held between May 17-20, will be conducted at NIS Patiala for women and Greco-Roman while the freestyle trials will happen in Sonepat. The U-17 and U-23 Asian Championships will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgystan from June 10-18.