WFI make Aadhaar compulsory for wrestlers to compete in national level tournaments

A wrestler will now require an Aadhaar card to participate in national level tournaments. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has introduced this as a mandatory stipulation to curb age fraud and also prevent the inter-state exodus of players using fake domicile.

Speaking to TOI, WFI Secretary Vinod Tomar Aadhar told that Aadhar has been made mandatory to prevent fraudulent activities in the sport. He also told that this move will help them weed out dishonest wrestlers who make fake certificates to show a false age and forge documents to show illegitimate domicile. 

“Aadhaar has been made compulsory for all senior, junior and cadet categories in national and state-level wrestling championships to prevent fraudulent activities in the sport,” WFI secretary Vinod Tomar told TOI. 

“This (move) will weed out dishonest wrestlers who forge documents and commit age fraud. It will also prevent players from manufacturing documents to show illegitimate domicile. If anyone wants to play for another state other than his or her state, then that particular player has to obtain an NOC from the parent state.”

Tomar further added that the move would benefit those players whose spots were taken by players who showed illegal domicile.

“Now those wrestlers, whose spots are taken away due to others indulging in malpractice, can compete at the national level,” he added. 

He also felt that the Aadhar will give them the complete data of a wrestler and they will maintain the records and any player forging or faking a certificate will now be caught. 

“Aadhaar will give us the complete data of any wrestler now and we will keep the records. We will know which championship a particular wrestler has competed in and what his or her age at that time was. The records will also show which venue and what tournament a player has competed in. This information will be recorded on the Aadhaar and fraud will be easily caught,” the WFI secretary further added. 

The WFI recently banned six junior wrestlers for one year after finding out that they were overage. The fraud was caught at the recently-concluded Junior National Wrestling Championship, which was held in Jaipur from February 22 to 25.