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Sushil Kumar-Narsingh Yadav Wrestling Row: Court asks Sushil to Sort out Rio Olympics Quota Issue With WFI

Refusing to intervene in the Narsingh Yadav vs Sushil Kumar tussle for a berth in the Rio Olympics, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the latter and the Wrestling Federation of India to meet and sort out the quota issue. Hearing the petition filed by Sushil, a double Olympic-medallist, the court said that it won’t intervene in the selection procedure for Rio Olympics and the WFI and Sushil should sort out the issue. Beginning the proceedings, the judge said, “That even though Sushil had brought several laurels for the country, one could not belittle Narsingh Yadav’s contribution, as it was because of him that the country had earned a quota for the quadrennial event.”

He later added that, “Wrestlers should focus on practice and not sit here in court… I will only intervene as a last resort.”Judge also said that even though the Sushil has done well for the country in the past, decision cannot be taken based on that as WFI had the power to take a final call. The meeting between Sushil and WFI will take place on Wednesday Sushil had on Monday moved the court seeking a trial against Narsingh Yadav after he was not included in the preparatory camp for Rio Olympics. Narsingh was included in the men’s 74kg freestyle division for the camp as he had acquired the Olympics quota at the World Championship in 2015.

Last week, after the WFI not showed much interest in conducting a trial in the 74kg category, Sushil took the matter to the Prime Minister’s Office. The 32-year-old had also appealed to the Sports Ministry, IOA, WFI and even appealed to the fans to give him a chance to undergo a trial for the Rio Games. According to the rules, the quota belongs to the country and not to a particular wrestler and Sushil has been claiming that he stands a better chance at the Olympic Games. Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had also left the matter to WFI and said that government would not intervene in the matter.