The Wrestling Federation of India was suspended on Thursday by the sport’s world governing body United World Wrestling for its failure to conduct elections within the stipulated time.
The suspension has been implemented with immediate effect and will continue until a new executive body is elected to run the day-to-day affairs of the federation.
As per PTI, this also means that the Indian wrestlers will have to compete at the upcoming World Wrestling Championships, which is the first 2024 Paris Olympics qualifying event, as neutral athletes.
UWW is reported to have communicated their decision to the ad-hoc panel led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa on Wednesday night.
The ad-hoc panel was set up in April to look after the daily affairs of the federation by the Indian Olympic Association after the protesting wrestlers led by Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat took to the streets. They spent weeks at the Jantar Mantar alleging sexual harrasement from the then WFI President Brij Bushan Sharan Singh.
The ad-hoc panel took complete charge of the federation in May.
The United World Wrestling had warned the Indian federation of suspenion, if they failed to conduct timely polls back in April - just a day after the ad-hoc panel was set up.
The WFI elections were originally expected to be held on May 7, but that process was declared null and void by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.
Since then the polls have been postponed multiple times with various state associations moving to court.