Grappler Kartar Singh to compete at Veteran World C'ship

Double Asian gold medallist Kartar Singh will be the lone Indian representative at the Veteran World Championship as other members of the team were denied permission by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to participate in the tournament.
"Thankfully he had a valid Schenegan visa (a common visa for 26 European nations) so went for the competition on September 28. As it is an open tournament anyone can participate," Rakesh Sanoria, Coordinator, Veteran Wrestling Federation of India, said of Kartar Singh, who is the general secretary of this organisation.
The Veteran World Championship is schedule to be held from October 1-6 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The wrestlers who have not been given visas will be meeting the Sports Minister tomorrow to complain about this attitude of the WFI. We never sought any funds from them. All the expenses are borne by the participants. We just needed authorisation letters to compete at the prestigious event to represent India," he said.
The WFI general council had expelled Kartar Singh in April this year and imposed a six-year ban on its former secretary for misconduct and indiscipline.
The VWFI had written to the national sports body to grant them permission on August 19 but did not get any response.

"We had requested them for 16 names for the competition, but later pruned it to five. The WFI has made it a personal issue. We are being treated unfairly," he said.

The organisation had also approached the Delhi High Court seeking a direction from the Sports Ministry and WFI to render all necessary assistance to them in granting visas as well as authority letters needed for participating in the event.
Meanwhile, WFI said the veterans' body is a bogus entity.
"They bypassed us (WFI). They directly wrote to FILA asking for participation. They did not even bother to speak to us. How can they form a wrestling body? Their organization is a bogus one. We don't want to deal with them," WFI General Secretary Raj Singh said.

"We don't know who the players are and whether they are fit enough to compete. No trials took place. How were these people selected to represent India?" he asked, adding that there is no personal vendetta against Kartar Singh.