The Wrestling Federation of India’s suspension was on Tuesday lifted by the United World Wrestling (UWW) body, UWW confirmed. Since August 23, the Indian Wrestling organization had been temporarily suspended due to its inability to conduct elections. Following an urgent meeting, the suspension has been removed.
The WFI suspension was a topic of discussion during the February 9 UWW Bureau meeting. The suspension was lifted by the body, albeit with certain restrictions.
“The United World Wrestling has lifted the suspension on the Wrestling Federation of India with immediate effect. 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,” UWW said in a statement.
The WFI’s Athletes’ Commission elections will need to be rescheduled, according to the international body, and candidates must be “active athletes or retired for no longer than four years.”. Additionally, it stated that WFI must “immediately provide” the international body “written guarantees” that no wrestler will face discrimination when applying to compete in WFI events.
The lifting of the suspension also means that, unlike when it was in place, Indian wrestlers can now compete under the national flag of their nation rather than the UWW flag. They can start doing so at the following UWW event.
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