The finish line is a carpet of doom and misery
When Sweety Malik enrolled in the Asian Public Sports School in Umra, Hisar (Haryana) eight years ago, she was twelve years old. She shared her father Omprakash Malik’s desire to become a wrestler. Within three years of enrolling at the sports academy, Sweety began making her mark worldwide, but her father was limited to state-level tournaments. She won the bronze medal in the 40 kg class at the 2018 Cadets World Championship and the gold medal in the 42 kg class at the U-15 Asian Championship the same year.
Sweety won the silver medal in the 50kg weight class after placing second in the U-20 Asian Championship last year while competing for the nation. She won 50kg bronze in the National Games and 53kg gold at the Khelo India University Games this year. Regretfully, these two tournaments were the only ones in which she participated in 2023, apart from the junior selection trials that were conducted months before.
Sweety is one of hundreds of wrestlers in the nation who do not have any matches scheduled for 2023. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was brought to a complete halt in January when prominent wrestlers staged an unprecedented protest against its previous president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Sports began to suffer when protesting wrestlers accused a BJP MP and the former president of the WFI of sexual harassment, plunging the sport into obscurity. The impasse between the WFI and the wrestlers persisted, which limited the number of matches held during the year. All wrestlers were impacted, but the younger, up-and-coming grapplers suffered the most.
“It was really expensive for us. The absence of competition had the most impact on us. The greatest method to evaluate one’s development is via competition. Sweety informed this newspaper, “The training has been continuing on without pause, but I’m not sure where I am right now. The wrestler competed in at least ten competitions last year, including the Federation Cup, Grand Prix, U-23 nationals, and junior national titles. In light of the state of wrestling in the nation, the National Games in Goa ended up being one of her limited opportunities to compete this year.
India has won at least one Olympic medal in wrestling since the 2008 Games. At the Tokyo Games, wrestlers took home two medals (57 kg silver for Ravi Dahiya and 65 kg bronze for Bajrang Punia). The sport is considered one of the nation’s top priorities for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. New talents like Anshu Malik and Antim Panghal are highly regarded and anticipated to earn honors in Paris, even if Sakshi Malik, the protest’s face, is still the only female wrestler to win an Olympic gold to yet. But the persistent issue has negatively impacted women’s wrestling; some parents have even pulled their children out of the sport.
“It’s challenging to provide precise numbers, but certainly some of my female trainees departed from the sport permanently,” Asian Public Sports School wrestling coach Sanjay Malik said to this newspaper. The proportion of females who leave is extremely high, but it is not only girls who leave; guys have also become less in number. “To put it in percentage terms, this year saw a minimum 25% decline in the number of new female recruits. Aside from this, because there were no tournaments, people who had previously registered in the sport chose to give it up. After the claims of sexual harassment, parents were uneasy as well,” Malik claimed.
One of the causes is lack of funds since, for the most part, wrestling is an uphill battle to survive without help. “The sport of wrestling is costly. Since wrestling is a fighting sport, the majority of wrestlers come from low-income families. The competition prize money helps them out financially and paves the road for better times ahead. Their employment in government sectors is facilitated by their participation credentials. Wrestlers and their parents had a really hard time making ends meet this year since there weren’t enough events,” the coach remarked. In addition, Sweety acknowledged that she had lost a few of her coworkers in recent months. Five or six females from my academy gave up playing the sport. I’m not sure why exactly, but the continuous chaos is to blame somewhere,” she said. The wrestler, who has been fighting on the world circuit for the previous five years, said that neither she nor her peers had ever encountered something so awful.
Sanjay Sihag, the wrestling coach of Altius Sports institution in Sisai, Hisar, had similar feelings and said that around six female trainees from his institution departed this year. “The people most negatively impacted are those who participate in age-group contests. For the most part, they’ve lost a year. Who is going to pay them? The number of new trainees at my academy has significantly decreased from the previous year’s twenty. Additionally, 7-8 girls left the academy as their parents were uneasy, according to Sihag.
It all began in January when renowned wrestlers, including as Sakshi, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang, accused Brij Bhushan of harassing them sexually. They also succeeded in filing FIRs against the powerful figure in Uttar Pradesh. The court matter is still continuing at this time. In response to the accusations, the government established an ad hoc committee to oversee the national sport. Following many months of uncertainty, the WFI’s executive committee elections took place on December 21. Sanjay Kumar Singh, a supporter of Brij Bhushan, was elected president. Thirteen of the fifteen positions were gained by his part; the other two, senior vice president and secretary general, went to the opposing side. Just three days later, however, the sports ministry urged the Indian Olympic Association to reconstitute an ad hoc committee and directed the recently elected body to refrain from operating.
Though it didn’t significantly affect wrestlers’ participation in international competitions, such as the Asian Games, the NSF’s absence has undoubtedly caused chaos in the country’s schedule. According to a person with close ties to the WFI, the federation has held a lot more tournaments in recent years, but due to an ongoing problem, it is unable to hold events.
“Senior, junior, and cadet nationals were the only three events the WFI used to organize until 2017.” The federation expanded the number of tournaments to seven or eight between 2017 and 2021 by adding competitions like traditional wrestling and U-23 nationals. The WFI organized almost 20 competitions in the previous year. There were five nationals: U-15, 17, 20, 23, and senior. In addition, there were four ranking competitions and the same number of federation cups (all age categories except U-23). There were two Grands Prix contested. There were three beach wrestling competitions, one conventional wrestling competition, and additional events, according to the source.
Olympic and Asian medallists get training at Sihag’s Academy. Sihag had himself been a national competitor before to taking on the role of coach. “I don’t support or oppose anybody. All that I desire are tournaments for my wards. For what length of time will this last? One year has already been lost. The coach said, “If the government is unable to come up with a solution, it ought to step in and ensure that up-and-coming wrestlers receive the matches they are due.”
The wrestlers and coaches have already lost a year, and they are eager for things to go back to normal so they can continue to improve their talents in national camps in addition to competitions. Despite having made it through the turbulent time, they worry that if the status quo persists, the majority of them will have to give up the sport.
