WFI sticks to stand, says Narsingh is the candidate
NEW DELHI: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday told the Delhi High Court that Narsingh Pancham Yadav was a better bet to represent India in the 74kg freestyle category at the Rio Olympic Games than former two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar.
WFI said the decision to send Narsingh to Rio was taken after evaluating the performance of wrestlers on the basis of their achievement, current performance and the assessment of the chief coach and the trainers at the training camps.
“Yadav is found to be the best wrestler to represent India in the 74 kg category,” WFI told the court.
Senior advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for Sushil, however alleged that his client was not given a chance for a trial as he had pulled out of the cash-rich ‘Pro-Wrestling League’. Sibal said trials are necessary for a major event like the Olympics.
Senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, appearing for Narsingh, told the court that Sushil had not participated in any international wrestling tournament in the last two years. He said that Narsingh was the one who secured a berth in the Olympics by winning a bronze medal in the World Championship last year. “If a trial is conducted today, the qualification events would be rendered meaningless,” he added.
Maintaining that Narsingh’s selection had been made in a fair and transparent manner, WFI said holding fresh trials at this stage could be counterproductive as there was “great risk of the wrestler suffering a serious injury”.
As arguments of the parties in the case could not be finished, the High Court has posted the matter for further hearing on Monday.