Hope for wrestlers as sports minister meets WFI chief

IN a big respite for the country's wrestlers, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya met the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Kumar Singh on Sunday.

- FIROZ MIRZA @Chennai

It is understood that the meeting was aimed at ensuring Indian wrestlers' participation at the upcoming Seniors Asian Championships scheduled in Amman, Jordan from March 25 to 30. This could also help in finding a solution to resolve the ongoing standoff between the sports ministry and WFI.

Notably, the ministry had suspended the WFI in December 2023 days after its polls wherein Sanjay Kumar was elected as the federation chief. Given the suspension, the ministry had not sanctioned WFI's proposals for sending the national teams for the two Ranking Series held earlier this month. However, if the Indian wrestlers miss the continental championships, then as per the rule of the United World Wrestling, they will not qualify to compete at the World Championships slated from September 13 to 21 in Zagreb, Croatia. "The meeting lasted for around an hour and issues like the WFI's suspension and participation of the Indian wrestlers at the Asian Championships were discussed," said highly-placed sources.