Wrestling Federation of India's suspension lifted by UWW with immediate effect

United World Wrestling was suspended by Wrestling Federation of India on August 23 last year. PTI

The United World Wrestling (UWW) lifted the suspension on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with immediate effect on Tuesday. The WFI was placed under provisional suspension on August 23 for not holding elections in time.

“UWW had placed the WFI under provisional suspension on August 23 last year after the Indian body failed to hold an election in due course. The UWW Disciplinary Chamber decided that it had sufficient grounds to impose the provisional suspension on the body as the situation in the federation prevailed for at least six months. The UWW Bureau met on February 9 to review the suspension among other topics and considering all the elements and information, it decided to lift the suspension,” UWW said in a statement.

The United World Wrestling statement added that the suspension has been lifted under the following conditions:

“The WFI has to re-convene the elections of its Athletes’ Commission. The candidates for this commission shall be active athletes or retired for no longer than four years. The voters shall be exclusively athletes. These elections shall take place during trials or any senior national championships where this operation can take place, but no later than July 1, 2024.”

“The WFI has to immediately provide UWW with written 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. This non-discrimination includes the three athletes who protested against alleged wrongdoings by the former President.”

Indian wrestlers to compete under tricolour

UWW added that it’s in touch with the Indian wrestlers and will follow up with them in the coming days.

The lifting of suspension also means that Indian wrestlers will now be able to compete under their country’s flag at the next UWW event. Under the suspension, the Indian wrestlers had to compete under a UWW flag.