WFI election: Supreme Court lifts Gauhati HC stay, orders polls immediately

Supreme Court lifted the stay on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) election and ordered the concerned authority to start the election process immediately. 

A Bench headed by Justices Aniruddha Bose and SV Bhatti issued notices to Sports Ministry, WFI, Assam Wrestling Association and others on a plea challenging the June 25 order of the high court.

The Gauhati High Court had put WFI elections on hold after Assam Wrestling Association filed a petition over its right to participate in the polls.

On June 25, the Gauhati High Court stayed the WFI elections scheduled for July 11.

The Assam Wrestling Association had claimed that it was entitled to be an affiliated member of WFI with voting rights. However, the national federation denied the recognition despite WFI's Executive Committee recommendation on November 15, 2014. 

 

Earlier, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, after his meeting with protesting wrestlers, had said that WFI elections will be held by June 30.

The IOA then announced that elections will be held on July 4 but the Returning Officer set July 6 as the new date.

However, after five disaffiliated state bodies staked claim to be eligible for voting, the Returning Officer yet again delayed the elections by five days, setting July 11 as the poll date.

World Championships trials

Coach Gian Singh, who is a member of the ad-hoc panel as a technical expert, said that the trials for the Olympic Qualifying World Championship will be held separately in August.

"The trials for the Worlds will be held between August 5 and 10. All will have to appear in those trials, including Bajrang and Vinesh. No one will be given an exemption for that. The finer details of the trials will be formulated by the ad-hoc committee," Singh said.

The World Championship will be held in Belgrade, Serbia from September 16-24 and the top four in each of the six Olympic weight categories will book their tickets for the 2024 Paris Games.

(With PTI inputs)