TOI Impact: Wrestling Federation of India suspends 30 overage wrestlers for breaching rules; coach handed lifetime ban
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has suspended 30 overage wrestlers in the past month after investigating over 400 cases of athletes competing illegally at junior levels with fake birth certificates.
The investigation revealed that wrestlers from
Haryana
obtained fraudulent documents showing Delhi as their birthplace to participate in junior competitions, with two overage athletes even winning medals at the recent Khelo India Games in Bihar.
The WFI discovered that most wrestlers obtained fake certificates from Delhi's Narela and Rohini zones, with approximately 300 cases from Narela alone. The remaining cases were from areas like Sultanpuri and Mangolpuri in the Rohini zone, with many certificates originating from Begampura.
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"We do not want to spoil careers of wrestlers, so we have just barred them from the junior level competitions, like U18 and Cadets. They should compete at the senior level, if they are over 18 they must represent their original state," a senior WFI official told PTI.
The official explained that these wrestlers, influenced by their Haryana coaches, paid bribes to obtain fake birth certificates. The federation worked with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi Cantonment Board to verify and investigate the complaints.
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"Out of 436 cases, around 300 were from the Narela zone, while the rest were from the Rohini zone like Sultanpuri and Mangolpuri. Most of them were getting certificates from Begampura. All of them wanted to represent Delhi since getting selected in Haryana teams is not easy. We approached MCD and the Delhi cantonment Board after receiving complaints and upon investigation and verification it was proved they were fake certificates," the official said.
Gautam Gambhir sends stern message after Bengaluru tragedy
The federation also identified a female wrestler at the Khelo India Games who submitted a fraudulent certificate allegedly issued by the Delhi Cantonment Board. The board confirmed they had not issued any such document.
"Actually the coaches are to be blamed. They wants their wards to win medals at competitions to become famous. That greed drives them to have overage wrestlers competing at junior level," the official added.
The investigation revealed that wrestlers paid cyber cafe owners to create fake bar codes on certificates. These bar codes would display false information when scanned, making the certificates appear genuine. The WFI has now decided to reject recently issued birth certificates.
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In a separate development, the WFI has banned Sanjay Lather, a Haryana coach, for life following a sexual harassment complaint during the Khelo India Games.
"We had received a complaint that this coach, who was appointed by the state government, had entered the room of a female wrestler after the competition ended. The Internal Complaints Committee duly investigated the matter and decided to terminate him from all wrestling activities for life," the official said.
The suspended wrestlers must now approach the WFI to apologize for their actions. The federation will then consider their cases individually.
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