Muristek
New Delhi, May 30
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has banned mat chairman Sanjay Kumar and referee Jitendra Mann for "not doing their job properly" during the trial between Satender Malik and Mohit, leading to the fracas between Satender and senior referee Jagbir Singh.
Satender, who had allegedly slapped Jagbir after losing the 125kg final against Mohit at the trials for the Commonwealth Games, had alleged Mohit was named the winner due to a conspiracy involving WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. He had demanded that the video of the bout be reviewed by a qualified United World Wrestling (UWW) referee.
The WFI last week sent the video of the bout to the UWW, which has now replied, saying that Jagbir had made the correct decision.
"At the request of the IND Wrestling Federation, the following match was reviewed and analysed by the referee commission members Antonio Silvestri and Ibrahim Cicioglu," Antonio Silvestri, who is the head of UWW referee commission, wrote.
Silvestri concluded: "Normally it was possible to give activity time in the second period of the bout against blue wrestler. The mat ended 3-3 and red was the correct winner by criteria (last point). The referee team did a good job and the correct wrestler was declared as the winner of the bout."
Bans
Following this, the WFI also decided to ban Sanjay and Mann for one year. "Had the two done their job we would have avoided this unnecessary controversy," WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said. "The referee gave two points to Mohit but the mat chairman, despite seeing the video, somehow decided to bring it to a solitary point. Our president (Brij Bhushan) clearly saw that a wrong decision was being taken and intervened. Jagbir was then called as Satyapal recused himself. They have been banned for not doing their job properly," he added.
Tomar said the WFI was not in favour of sanctioning Jagbir despite allegations that he landed the first slap that started the brawl.