Ministry bats for wrestling's inclusion

The Sports Ministry has requested the full membership of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider retaining wrestling in the core sports of Olympics Games during its 125th session at Buenos Aires scheduled from September 7-10.

The IOC executive board in its meeting at St Petersburg, Russia, in May had recommended that baseball/ softball, squash and wrestling be proposed to the 125th session of IOC for possible inclusion as an additional sport in the Olympic Programme for 2020 Olympic Games.

The full IOC membership in Buenos Aires will now be voting on the fate of these three sports for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics in addition to the 25 core sports.

In a letter written to all the IOC members, Sports Secretary PK Deb has said that “wrestling, which combines freestyle (men and women) and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics held in Athens in 1886 and has been a core sport from the first Olympics onwards.”

 Deb wrote the exclusion of wrestling from Olympics could severely affect the future of game.
 “The Government of India believes that the decision to exclude the sport of wrestling from the 25 core sports needs to be reconsidered particularly in view of the fact that wrestling has got not only universal appeal, but is also very affordable,” he wrote.

 The IOC executive board at its meeting on February 12, 2013 had recommended the exclusion of wrestling from the list of core sports for the 2020 Olympics.