Much ado about nothing? After all the protests, Brij Bhushan camp person becomes WFI president
The much-delayed elections of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was held on Thursday, December 21, with Sanjay Singh, part of the Brij Bhushan faction and UP Wrestling Association vice-president, easily winning the post of president, defeating Anita Sheoran 40-7.
The term of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former WFI chief and a BJP MP, had ended amid allegations of sexual harassment. Several top wrestlers, led by ace wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, held a months-long protest in Delhi, which they called off on June 7 only after Sports Minister Anurag Thakur assured them that none of the family members or close associates of Brij Bhushan will be allowed to enter the WFI election fray.
Obviously, that did not happen. But to many, the result was a foregone conclusion as the opposing faction simply didn’t have the necessary numbers.
However, it wasn’t a complete loss for Sheoran’s panel as they claimed the key posts of secretary-general, with Prem Chand Lochab, a former RSPB (Railway Sports Promotion Board) secretary, beating Darshan Lal 27-19 and senior vice president, with Devender Singh Kadian, who runs a chain of food outlets on national highways and is considered close to the protesting wrestlers, beating I D Nanavati 32-15.
The Brij Bhushan camp also swept all the four posts of vice presidents with Delhi’s Jai Prakash, Bengal’s Asit Kumar Saha, Punjab’s Kartar Singh and Manipur’s N Phoni winning. Uttarakhand’s Satyapal Singh Deshwal, who is also from the Brij Bhushan camp, is the new treasurer.
Thus, while the outcome of the election shows that little is likely to change in the field of Indian wrestling despite the desperate calls from the protesting wrestlers, one positive outcome will be that the formation of the new executive council will pave the way for United World Wrestling (UWW) to lift its ban on WFI. The world governing body had banned the Indian body for not conducting the election on time, forcing Indian wrestlers to compete as neutral athletes at the 2023 world championships.
