The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has decided to hold its elections on May 7 in Delhi. The beleaguered WFI chief, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, against whom some prominent wrestlers leveled several charges, will not contest for the post of president.
“The elections will be held on May 7. Since he (Brijbhushan) has completed three terms (12 years) as the president, he has to take a break (as per the Sports Code),” said WFI secretary V.N. Prasood following the federation’s special general body meeting and executive body meeting at Gonda, alongside the National Open Ranking Tournament and the National under-17 championships which began on Sunday.
Brijbhushan is 66 years old and the upper age limit, in normal course, for holding a post of an office-bearer or board member in a National Sports Federation is 70 years.
The Sports Ministry had formed an Oversight Committee to look into various allegations, including sexual harassment, leveled by the wrestlers against Brijbhushan and had asked him step aside from the day-to-day functioning of the federation. The committee also looked after the daily work of the WFI during the enquiry.
After the committee submitted its report to the Government, some WFI office-bearers, including Prasood, began functioning a few weeks back. Now, the WFI will have a new president following the elections.
The conduct of the Open Ranking event, which was stopped midway after the freestyle competitions in January following a directive from the Ministry due to the controversy, and the under-17 event marked the resumption of wrestling competitions in the country.
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