Former wrestler Narsingh Yadav elected chairman of WFI athletes panel

Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Narsingh Pancham Yadav was on Wednesday elected chairman of the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) Athletes’ Commission here, completing the process mandated by the sport’s world governing body. A total of eight contenders were in the fray for seven spots in the commission and seven members were elected after voting. They then chose Narsingh as the commission’s chairman.

Team member Narsingh had hit the headlines ahead of the 2016 Olympics when Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar requested a trial bout against him even though he had missed the qualification tournament due to an injury.

Sushil approached the Delhi High Court and after his appeal was rejected, it was confirmed that Narsingh would go to the Rio Olympics. But surprisingly, Narsingh failed two dope tests conducted before the Olympics, due to which the Sports Tribunal banned him for four years.

However, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had given him a clean chit, saying that he had tested positive in the dope test due to a conspiracy. The decision of the Sports Tribunal came a day before Narsingh’s opening match, due to which he returned from Rio without playing. His ban ended in July 2020 and he had said that this incident was part of a conspiracy.

The other members elected to the Athletes Commission are Sahil (Delhi), Smita A S (Kerala), Bhartiya Bhagei (Uttar Pradesh), Khushboo S Pawar (Gujarat), Nikki (Haryana) and Shweta Dubey (Bengal). While lifting the suspension of WAI, the international sporting body UWW had said that it would be mandatory for the Sanjay Singh-led national federation to set up an Athletes Commission to address grievances of wrestlers.