Indian wrestlers won't play under India flag at World Championships due to this reason

The United World Wrestling (UWW), the global governing body for wrestling, has suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) due to their failure to conduct timely elections. This suspension means that Indian wrestlers will not be able to compete at the upcoming World Championships under the Indian flag.

Instead, the Indian grapplers will have to participate as neutral athletes at the Olympic-qualifying World Championships, which are scheduled to begin on September 16. This unfortunate situation arose because the ad-hoc panel, led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, did not adhere to the 45-day deadline for conducting the elections.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had appointed the ad-hoc panel on April 27, with the expectation that the committee would hold elections within 45 days. However, they failed to meet this requirement, leading to the suspension by UWW.

It is worth noting that UWW had issued a warning on April 28, stating that they would suspend the Indian federation if the deadline for holding elections was not respected.

"The UWW communicated to the ad-hoc panel on Wednesday night that WFI has been suspended for not holding elections to its executive committee," an IOA source told PTI.

Initially, the World Football Institute (WFI) had scheduled elections for May 7th. However, the Sports Ministry deemed this process null and void, leading to a series of delays. Numerous dissatisfied state bodies, who were no longer affiliated with the WFI, have taken legal action in an attempt to secure their participation in the upcoming polls.

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