13-05-2023 : An ad hoc committee has been appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to oversee the daily operations of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The decision was made in response to several prominent wrestlers who, last month, returned to the Jantar Mantar protest site to call for the arrest of WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly harassing female wrestlers. The IOA has instructed the WFI secretary-general to provide the ad-hoc panel with all official papers, including financial instruments while making it clear that the departing office holders would not be involved in the federation’s management.
The IOA has debarred all outgoing WFI officials from undertaking any administrative function, and all administrative, financial, and regulatory roles will now be performed by the ad-hoc committee. The ad-hoc committee has already finalized the rules and regulations related to conducting the selection trials for picking the Indian teams for 2023 U-17 and U-23 Asian Wrestling Championships. The trials will be held in Patiala from May 17, and the championships will be held in Bishkek from June 10-18.
WFI secretary general V N Prasood has stated that they have no issues in sharing all the relevant documents with the IOA panel. Prasood said, “It’s normal procedure. When the oversight committee was formed, then also we had given them all the necessary files through our staff. Now this ad hoc panel is there, and we can give them whatever documents they need to manage WFI. It’s not an issue. Our term is already over, and the IOA and the government are managing; it’s normal procedure to ask for these documents.”
The IOA issued a letter on Friday as per sources, stating that the outgoing office bearers should immediately hand over all necessary documents, including website login and participation details of Indian wrestlers, among others, to the ad-hoc committee. This order is to ensure that the ad-hoc committee has full control over the administration of the Wrestling Federation of India. The letter has also been marked to the ministry and the WFI secretary general.