WFI hatches elaborate plan to bypass UWW deadline for sending names for World Championships

08/15/2019

WFI has announced that the remaining trials for the World Championships will be held next week, after the UWW’s deadline, but the names will be sent beforehand. Sources have said that if the trials produce different names than expected, they have devised a strategy to make the required changes.

With United World Wrestling having set August 15 as the deadline for sending names for World Championships, the Wrestling Federation of India’s latest announcement has come as a real shock. The body on Wednesday announced that the trials for the global event, which will also be acting as qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics, will be held next week for all the remaining categories for both males and females.

However, what is even more surprising is that the Federation has decided to send the list of names by the required date, that is before the trials take place. If the deadline is not met, the Federation would have to incur a huge penalty. Trials for most categories have taken place, while the 74 kg category for male boxers is the only Olympic category for which trials are pending.

August 19 will see the trials for women’s freestyle being held at the SAI centre, Lucknow while the men's trial will take place the next day at the IGI stadium in Delhi. If the sources as reported by TOI are to be believed, the sport’s federation has worked out a plan to manipulate the deadline without having to incur a late fee.

“We have told the UWW that nine of our wrestlers, including Sushil, are unfit. They will submit their fitness certificate on August 19 and 20. We have informed the world body that if there are any changes in the names sent on August 15, that will be purely on medical grounds, fitness etc. We haven’t told the UWW that we are conducting trials after the last date for submission of names has expired. The UWW won’t accept the entries and reject them all,” the source was quoted saying.

“So, let’s say if we are sending Sushil’s name tomorrow (Thursday), assuming that he’ll win the trial comfortably, then his entry will remain. But in case he loses, then we will update the system with the name of winning wrestler, telling the UWW that Sushil has been declared unfit and this particular wrestler in his weight category has reported fit for the championships,” the source explained.

Meanwhile, with Parveen Rana having pulled out of the race with a shoulder injury, Amit Dhankar’s name has also been withdrawn from the trials. The only competitors hence remaining are Sushil Kumar and Jitendra, but the double Olympic medalist’s name will be sent forward to the UWW in the initial list.

“Jitendra is not up to the level of Sushil. That’s why we will be forwarding Sushil’s name and hope that it remains the same,” the source revealed.