Wrestling Federation of India faces ban due to delay in clearance by Home Ministry

The MHA hasn't given clearance for visa yet to Pakistani team arriving in India for Asian Junior Wrestling Championships, said WFI chief.

The Wrestling Federation of India has raised fears of United World Wrestling banning the body over delay in issuing of visas to the team from Pakistan. Speaking about the issue, Wrestling Federation of India president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh had blamed the Ministry of Home Affairs for the delay.

He told news agency ANI, “The MHA hasn't given clearance for visa yet to Pakistani team arriving in India for Asian Junior Wrestling Championships. If visa isn't cleared, United World Wrestling will ban us from hosting tournaments.”

Singh further said that Pakistan has filed a complaint in this regard with the United World Wrestling body.

This comes just days after The Tribune reported that the event, scheduled to be held between July 17 and 23, was in limbo as there was no clearance from the Home Ministry for the same. According to the report, Ministry of Sports and Ministry of External Affairs had given the required clearance while the security clearance expected from Home Ministry was not yet given.

The security clearance is required for foreign players to get Indian visa. The clearance was reportedly sought through a written application by wrestling body to Home Ministry on May 10, following which a reminded was also sent last week.

The Tribune report had further said that Iran, Uzbekistan and Japan had raised the issue of the delay.