Federation or no federation, Indian Wrestling continues to shine

Published at :August 24, 2023 at 6:04 PM

Modified at :January 13, 2024 at 6:19 PM

Indian wrestlers bagged a record 14 medals at the recently-concluded World U-20 Wrestling Championships.

Owing to ’The Wrestlers vs WFI’ case, Wrestling is one of the most talked-about sports presently in India. It all began in January when India’s prominent wrestlers and international medalists Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and many more others, started a sit-in protest and asked for an investigation with the charges of sexual misconduct, and harassment of wrestlers against then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)’s President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

This was followed by the formation of an Oversight Committee, the Delhi Police refusing to lodge an FIR, Supreme Court’s intervention, and the wrestlers being detained and manhandled. A chargesheet was filed against the WFI chief under sections 354, 354A and 354D of the Indian Penal Code on June 15. Finally, on June 25, 2023, the wrestlers agreed to take the case through the legal route after discussions with the Union Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs, and Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur.

Impact of ‘Dharna’

The effect of havoc caused due to ‘the wrestlers Vs WFI’ had a more significant impact than anticipated, not only on the wrestling community but also on the country. Prominent Indian athletes like Neeraj Chopra, Abhinav Bindra, Sania Mirza, Sunil Chhetri, Kapil Dev, Nikhat Zareen and many more, poured in their support for the wrestlers through social media. The protests also witnessed support from many opposition leaders and a few members of the ruling party as well.

However, it didn’t end there. While the wrestlers received support, they also faced criticism from many on. Many accused the wrestlers of using the situation to their advantage to exempt themselves from selection trials, while others deemed the case as fake charges against the WFI President.

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Elections being postponed time and again

The WFI elections have been delayed on numerous occasions this year. The governing body for wrestling in India was slated to hold elections for 15 positions in June of this year. However, it didn’t go as planned owing to the wrestlers’ protests against its chief and the federations and legal petitions from various state units. They were then planned to be conducted on August 12, but have now been put on hold by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As a result, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has formed an Ad-Hoc committee who are in-charge of the day-to-day affairs of Indian wrestling. This also implies that the Ad-Hoc committee will be conducting the selection trials for any important wrestling competitions. Recently, the committee picked the Indian team for the recently-concluded World U-20 Championships 2023 and the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.

Indian wrestlers continue to rise

After the fiasco in Indian wrestling and the Wrestling Federation not being in-charge, there weren’t huge expectations from the 20-member wrestling contingent who were sent to Amman, Jordan, for the World U-20 Wrestling Championships from August 14 to 20, 2023. However, the young brigade had a sensational campaign and stunned everyone at the tournament.

The Indian wrestlers bagged a phenomenal 14 medals which included four gold, three silver, and seven bronze medals to end their successful campaign with a second-place finish behind Iran. They outdid their performance from last year, where they had won one gold owing to Antim Panghal’s gold medal, which was also India’s first-ever gold in the history of the event.

Once again, the 19-year-old Antim shone at the championships as she claimed her second gold medal in the women’s 53kg category. Besides Antim, the star performers and gold medalists for India were Priya Malik (women’s 76kg), Savita (women’s 62kg) and Mohit Kumar (men’s freestyle 61kg). As a result, India topped the women’s wrestling charts and grabbed the title in the event with seven medals overall.

Young wrestlers battling all odds to the top of the podium

Despite the Ad-Hoc committee temporarily taking the place of the traditional federation and internal turmoil, the young Indian wrestling team not only participated, but brought laurels to the nation with a remarkable 14 medals. This says that the new generation of wrestlers have got the ideal skill-set and mentality to fight against all odds and are truly committed to the sport. In addition, they have proven that they are here to stay and conquer the world.

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