sharad.deep@htlive.com
Nandini Nagar (Gonda): A 5 am start to wrestling bouts, with wrestlers waiting through midnight for their turn on the mat — the Senior Open Ranking Tournament descended into scheduling chaos, even as the Wrestling Federation of India tried in vain to manage the situation on the ground.
With nearly 600 wrestlers entering the Freestyle event for men, which opens a pathway to the national camp, around 668 bouts are scheduled over three days in freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women’s wrestling competitions.
The sheer volume of entries left organisers struggling to keep the competition on track, stretching Sunday’s first day of action to almost 18 hours and pushing the competition for another six hours on Monday.
The impact on wrestlers was impossible to ignore. Many wrestlers were asked to step onto the mat around 5 am. Some wrestlers did not have proper meals for hours while waiting for their bouts to start. Many others hovered around the venue, anxiously waiting for their matches. The delay took a physical and mental toll on the wrestlers as they began their competition.
“When I was asked to take the mat at 5 in the wee hours, I was on an empty stomach because I had been waiting for my bout since midnight,” said Ashish Kadiyan, a competitor. “I felt strange, but there was no other choice,” he added.
As it was an open ranking championship, the WFI could not turn away any eligible participant. This also meant the draw became overcrowded, the schedule unmanageable, and the wrestlers paid the price for poor planning and logistical issues.
“In such a situation, the performance of wrestlers suffers. In a championship meant to identify and reward the best, the conditions on day one created an uneven battlefield,” said a match official on condition of anonymity. There were 30 officials in action on the first day.
“When hundreds of wrestlers are packed into a single venue and bouts continue deep into the night, the cost is borne by the wrestlers, not the administrators,” said another mat official who did not wish to be named.
He also admitted this is especially concerning because many participants are young and are coming from different parts of the country with hopes of making a mark at the national level. “For them, every bout matters and when you spend hours waiting, it leads to exhaustion and undermines the very purpose of the tournament,” the official added.
The issue raises a larger question about the organisation of events in Indian wrestling. An open tournament, especially for ranking competitions, gives exposure to a broader pool of athletes and brings them into national reckoning. But a robust system is needed when it comes to planning and scheduling; otherwise, the event can quickly turn into disorder.
The bouts at dawn, on empty stomachs, were perhaps the most troubling image from Gonda. Wrestlers are trained to push their bodies, but they also depend on proper nutrition and recovery routines. Asking them to perform in the early morning after waiting through the night is unacceptable in a national-level competition.
“The event has exposed a clear gap between participation policy and implementation. If open tournaments are to continue serving as meaningful ranking platforms, the federation and organisers must plan for larger draws with greater precision, better time management, and athlete welfare at the centre of decision-making,” said another official.
However, WFI president Sanjay Singh said that next time it would be a five-day championship.
“After hearing the scheduling problems from referees and officials, the WFI has decided to extend the championship schedule by one more day from next time. There would be two-day bouts in freestyle and Greco-Roman categories, whereas the last day of the event would be for women’s wrestling,” he said.
