Indian wrestlers fret over Zagreb Open participation

NEW DELHI: Defending champion Aman Sehrawat is apprehensive about his prospects of competing in the upcoming Zagreb Open in Croatia, a ranking series event in the United World Wrestling's (UWW) calendar which the Indian has dominated in the past two editions.
It's not the men's 57kg defending champion alone. Other Indian men and women wrestlers who have submitted their entries for the Feb 5-9 meet too, are awaiting confirmation regarding their participation.
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The wrestlers are facing the ramifications of the government not acknowledging the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), headed by Sanjay Singh. The entries for the tournament must be routed through WFI since the UWW has informed the Indian authorities that it will only consider names sent by the Singh-led federation and not any other wrestling body.
An Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-run ad-hoc body had been formed after the sports ministry had de-recognized the body, but it was subsequently dissolved after the UWW's stern directive.
In the latest development, the wrestlers are awaiting clearance from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to participate in Zagreb. They are scheduled to depart India on Feb 3 and 4 for the season's first ranking series meet, one which carries ranking points for seedings at the senior World wrestling championships, to be held later this year. There are four ranking series events in the wrestling calendar.
Earlier, the wrestlers had missed out participating in two invitational meets in Belarus and Egypt in Nov-Dec last year after the SAI refused to clear the teams owing to the WFI's continued derecognition. With the event dates fast approaching, it appears unlikely that the wrestlers will be able to compete in the event.
WFI officials said they had submitted the proposal to SAI some time back, expressing interest in sending the team for the series. But there has been no response from the authorities despite reminders from the federation. SAI did not react to TOI's queries on the same till the time of going to press.