Ministry raps WFI over wrestler Geetika's complaint

Taking a serious note of Geetika Jakhar's complaint, the Sports Ministry has sought an explanation from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for calling a retrial even after she won the recently-concluded trials for next month's Olympic Qualifiers in Helsinki, Finland.

The Sports Ministry, on Sunday, sought an urgent report from the WFI, clarifying its decision to hold a retrial in Geetika's category after she, in her complaint, had alleged that the federation had bias against her.

"Ms Geetika Jakhar has stated that the Wrestling Federation has decided to hold a retrial only for the category in which she has been declared as winner in the trials held on 19th April since she belongs to Haryana and the contestant whom she defeated is from Uttar Pradesh," the Under Secretary to the Government of India, A K Patro wrote in his letter to WFI secretary general Raj Singh.

"It is not clear as to why retrial is being done in her case when she was declared the winner and as per the stated policy of the Federation, the winners of the trials held on 19th April were to represent India at the Olympic Qualifiers at Helsinki.

"This action of the Federation does not appear to be in keeping with the principles of good governance and transparency. You are therefore advised to immediately send an explanation and a report to the Ministry," the letter added.

When contacted WFI secretary general Raj Singh said the federation will send their reply as sought by the ministry.

"We will give our version of the story to the ministry by today evening," he said.

He, however, explained the reason behind WFI's decision to call for a retrial, which will be held o Monday.

"Alka Tomar's (Geetika's opponent) coach had raised some issues regarding the outcome of the match. So, while witnessing the footage of the bout once again, the selection committee, which includes the government observer, felt that Geetika committed some fouls which went unnoticed, so we ordered for a retrial," Singh said.

"Our president has also said that a proper action should be taken against the technical person officiating the bout between Alka and Geetika.

"There is no question of any bias against Geetika. We just want the best player to compete in the qualifiers. If we had any malice against her then we would not have been applying for her visa to Helsinki," he added.