NEW DELHI:
Sanjay Singh
, president of the suspended
Wrestling Federation of India
(
WFI
), on Monday said that the body would go ahead with the conduct of the senior Nationals in Pune even as the sports ministry warned that any such event would be deemed “unsanctioned” and “unrecognised”.
The newly-elected executive committee of the suspended WFI announced that it would stage the senior National wrestling championship in Pune from Jan.
29-31.
The Singh-led federation had originally planned to conduct the Nationals in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar from Jan. 28-30.
“We will go ahead with the Nationals in Pune as planned. Ours is a democratically-elected body. Even the respected returning officer (former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Mahesh Mittal) Kumar and United World Wrestling observer have recognised our elections. How can the ministry say that ours is not a sanctioned body? We have already written to the UWW to immediately lift the provisional suspension imposed on WFI since there’s an elected body in place headed by me. We are conducting the Nationals in Pune and the criteria and schedule has already been circulated among the member state units,” Singh told TOI.
Singh’s comments came a day after the ministry cautioned Singh in a two-page communication that the suspended WFI had no authority to conduct any championships or competitions.
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