NEW DELHI: Indian wrestling continues to suffer in the absence of govt recognition.
In a latest development, wrestlers are awaiting clearance from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to participate in two prestigious invitational tournaments in Belarus and Egypt.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) – which has been fighting for recognition from both the sports ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) – had submitted a proposal to the SAI on Nov 10, expressing its interest to participate in the Oleg Karavaev Greco-Roman meet in Minsk from Nov 28 to 30 and Ibrahim Moustafa meet in Alexandria on Dec 7 and 8.
With the dates fast approaching, there has been no response from SAI despite reminders from the federation. "Even if the clearance comes from the SAI, it would be difficult to get the visas processed on time for both countries. The organisers have been asking for names, but we can't send them the list in the absence of any response from the SAI," said a WFI source.
Recently, the federation was forced to pull out the Indian contingent from the World Wrestling Championships in Albania's Tirana. Later, the sports ministry had cleared the trip after a day-long protest outside the minister's residence by participating wrestlers demanding that the teams be sent to the meet.
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