Wrestling continues to grapple for survival

The sorry state of affairs in wrestling continues even though Aman Sehrawat, with his Olympic bronze, salvaged some pride earlier this year. As 2024 nears end, Firoz Mirza sheds some light on issues ailing the sport and way forward to reclaim the good old days...

- Firoz Mirza

ARLIER this month, a Greco-Roman wrestler from Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), who was representing Rajasthan in the senior national championships in Bengaluru, got a few calls after he won the first bout. He was instructed to pull out of the tournament as the RSPB has not given him a no-objection certificate (NOC) to compete in the championships.

A few Railway wrestlers though represented their home states and even won medals but a majority of them were deprived of the nationals organised by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the second straight year.

The same was the case last year as well. Repercussions for non-participation, however, could be more this time as in 2023 two nationals were organised—one by the WFI and other by the ad-hoc committee.

The second one was hosted by the RSPB and hence their wrestlers got a tournament even if they were not allowed to compete in the WFI's event.

Besides, winners of Railway nationals were considered for future events given the situation at that time. It may not be the case now and this can affect Railway wrestlers badly.

"It's sad but wrestlers who didn't compete in Bengaluru nationals would not be considered for upcoming camps and tournaments," Sanjay Kumar Singh, WFI president, told this daily.