Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday ruled out intervention in the Sushil Kumar-Narsingh Yadav selection battle for the Rio Olympics, saying that the matter is for the Wrestling Federation of India to decide.
The WFI had sought the Ministry’s intervention to resolve the raging furore over whether to give the Olympic ticket to Narsingh, who clinched the quota berth, or hold trials to present double Olympic-medallist Sushil a chance in the 74kg category.
“Government has nothing to do with it. The Federation, which is an autonomous body, is the final authority. We stood by the national sports code and respect the autonomy of all sports Federations,” Sonowal, who is here on a visit to the NIS to take stock of the Olympic preparations.
Narsingh booked the Rio berth at last year’s World Championships in las Vegas. Sushil, on the other hand, had to sit out of the event owing to an injured shoulder.
As per rules, the quota berth is for the country and it was expected that trials would be held to pick between Narsingh and Sushil before the Games.
Sonowal meets Rio hopefuls
Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday visited the SAI training institute here and met the Rio Olympics probables to get an idea of the preparations and facilities offered to them.
“The athletes conveyed that they are quite comfortable and satisfied with the facilities offered to them,” Sonowal said.
Minister also said that as suggested by two foreign coach, government will look into the need for constructing indoor training tracks to give comfort to athletes who practice during summer seasons in places like Patiala which is extremely hot between April - June.