The Indian wrestlers will be required to compete at the World Championships, which begin on September 16, as “neutral athletes.”
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will be suspended as a result of its failure to organize elections on time, according to United World Wrestling (UWW), the organization that oversees wrestling worldwide.
India’s wrestlers now risk participating under a neutral flag, which is a major loss for the sport in the nation as a whole.
The claims of sexual harassment against the WFI’s former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the protracted protests by the best Indian wrestlers have caused trouble for the organization over the past few months.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had created an ad hoc committee to manage the wrestling federation’s business in April with the instruction to organize new elections in 45 days; this deadline has since been postponed multiple times.
Taking note of the situation in India “with great concern”, the UWW had, in a statement in May, warned about the possibility of suspension if the 45-day deadline for elections was not respected.
“Failing to do so may lead UWW to suspend the federation, thereby forcing the athletes to compete under a neutral flag. It is reminded that UWW already took a measure in this situation by reallocating the Asian Championship planned in New Delhi earlier this year,” the UWW said in its May statement.
