The Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh blamed the organisers for the country's dismal show at the World Championships, saying the lack of facilities in Paris resulted in wrestlers losing out on 15 days of training ahead of the mega-event.
The Indian contingent, which returned empty-handed, was "forced" to train at a local club in Boulevard de Bercy borough, situated at the border of France and Germany since August 6, with hardly any facilities or even foreign wrestlers to practice with.
"We completely wasted 15-20 days in France before the start of the tournament. There were no training facilities provided by the organisers. Our wrestlers did not get partners to practice with," Singh said after returning from Paris.
The Indian grapplers not just failed to make it to the podium but lost in the initials rounds of their respective weight categories. None of the wrestlers could win two consecutive bouts in the main round.
Even those who were fortunate to get a repechage, owing to their opponents' performances, also could not take advantage of it. No Indian reached the bronze-medal play-offs during the tournament.
"None of the other countries' wrestlers turned up and even the organisers did not provide us with any facility. We had to arrange for everything ourselves. We had set up our training camp at a local club, where our wrestlers did not get enough partners to train with.
"They had to practice with one another, which wasn't sufficient and that reflected on our results," rued Singh.
Before any big championship, most of the countries gather at the venue about two weeks in advance and train with one another.
"We need to ensure that our wrestlers get enough training as well as get acclimatised to the conditions. So we always send our team to any venue much ahead of time. Generally, 5-6 countries wrestlers are always there as well but this time there were none and even the organisers refused to provide anything," said Singh.