Wrestling News: It has been almost six months without any wrestling action as COVID-19 continues to play spoilsport on ‘Project restart’. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has once again postponed the national camp for women due to the pandemic. This has raised many questions but the most pressing concern of it all is what is the future of the sport. Many federations which had previously announced to resume the domestic competitions are postponing it, the latest being Japan championship.
UWW cancels all the September and October events
In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, the United World Wrestling decided to cancel its September and October calendar including the European Cadet Championship scheduled for 5-11 October in Poland and European Junior Championship planned on October 19-25 2020 in North Macedonia. The world organisation continues to monitor the situation and will also decide the fate of the remaining 2020 calendar. “We will continue to monitor the worldwide response to the pandemic,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic. “We take seriously the responsibility to care for our athletes safety and health. When we have confidence they can compete with success we will wrestle again.” The EC will meet in the next month to further discuss the 2020 calendar and analyze next steps.
Russia to review situation ahead of national championship
The national championship might get not be organised at all this year due to the rising Covid-19 cases. The Russian Federation will take the decision on it in the next two weeks. The women’s freestyle wrestling championship was originally scheduled for September 26-27. The tournament would have determined not only the champions of Russia but also the participants of the world championship, which is tentatively scheduled for December in Belgrade (Serbia). Meanwhile, the Russian freestyle wrestling championship is dated for October in Vladikavkaz.
Indian Premier League can bring good news for world of sports
Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia feels that the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will bring positivity among all the sports disciplines worldwide. He said that if UAE manages to host the lucrative league without any hassle then other sports can also think of resuming events. “Safety of everybody is very important. I am of the opinion that the IPL is starting in UAE and if it gets started and finished without any bad news of coronavirus, then I think other sports organisers can also plan on holding the events (with all precautions) in future,” Bajrang told IANS.
