A Senior Open Ranking Tournament in Nandini Nagar (Gonda) descended into scheduling chaos, with wrestlers waiting through midnight for their turn on the mat. The tournament, which had nearly 600 wrestlers entering the Freestyle event for men, was held over three days in freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women’s wrestling competitions.
The sheer volume of entries left organisers struggling to keep the competition on track, stretching Sunday’s first day of action to almost 18 hours and pushing the competition for another six hours on Monday.
Many wrestlers were asked to step onto the mat around 5 am, with some not having proper meals for hours while waiting for their bouts to start. The delay took a physical and mental toll on the wrestlers as they began their competition.
WFI president Sanjay Singh said that next time it would be a five-day championship, with two-day bouts in freestyle and Greco-Roman categories, and the last day for women’s wrestling.
