United World Wrestling has revoked the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India with immediate effect, the world body announced in a statement on Tuesday.
In the statement on its official website, UWW said the federation’s Bureau met on February 9 to review the suspension and made the decision to lift the suspension provided the WFI meet a few conditions – the elections for its Athletes’ Commission has to be reconvened and conducted either during trials or any senior national championships no later than July 1.
The candidates for this commission also should be either active athletes or those who have retired no longer than four years ago with the voters also required to be solely athletes.
Back in August 2023, UWW had suspended the Indian federation for failing to conduct elections on time. This came after a stern warning from the global body with regards to the treatment of senior wrestlers who were leading the protests against erstwhile WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh Sharan.
The latest statement also asked the WFI to provide guarantees “that all wrestlers will be considered for participation without any discrimination in all WFI events, in particular trials for the Olympic Games and any other major national and international events.”
Although the Indian body ended up holding elections in December, the Sports Ministry of India suspended the newly-elected board for failing to follow proper procedure when making announcements for national-level competitions.
The suspension being lifted allows Indian wrestlers to now compete under the country’s flag at any future UWW event. Previously, while the suspension was in place, Indian wrestlers had to compete at the Wrestling World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia back in September 2023 under the neutral flag.