Non-member country to host Commonwealth Wrestling C`ships

New Delhi: For the first time-ever, the 14th edition of the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships will be held in a non-member country after hosts Scotland backed out, citing unpreparedness.

The championship, which was scheduled to be held in Glasgow from July 26-28, will now be held at Budapest, Hungary from September 9-10. The biennial championships, which started in 1985, were to be hosted as a test event for the next year`s Commonwealth Games in the Scottish city of Glasgow but the organisers were not ready for the event. "It is unusual that a Commonwealth championships is happening in a non-member country. What else could Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association done after the host simply refused to stage the event saying they weren`t prepared. CAWA had no choice but to approach another country," general secretary of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Raj Singh said. The CAWA also approached India to stage the event but weren`t obliged as they wanted Delhi to be the host city but the WFI did not agree to it. "We gave the option of hosting the championship in Ranchi (Jharkhand). We had even started booking hotels for players and officials. But they were insisting on staging it in Delhi which we didn`t want as we had already a championships in the capital (Asian Championships in April)," he said. "Finally Hungary`s association agreed to host the event as the Senior World Championships are also scheduled there. The wrestlers of the Commonwealth countries can participate in the Worlds that a week after the event," he added. The championships will act as good warm-up for the Indian wrestlers before the world championships, scheduled for September 16-22. PTI