With Railways hosting the Senior National Championships in Jaipur, Railways Sports Promotion Board secretary Prem Chand Lochab was a busy man looking after the organising of the event. The three-day tournament was the first major ‘sanctioned’ domestic competition in more than a year.
“It was a long time that this championship was pending. The wrestlers were looking forward to the opportunity. They can apply for jobs or explore other opportunities. We have tried to give the best facilities to the wrestlers and technical officials, ” said Lochab.
Lochab has been in the spotlight recently, having won the post of general secretary in the highly charged Wrestling Federation of India elections. Known to have the backing of the protesting wrestlers, Lochab is an eyesore for rest of the WFI that still swears by the former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Differences have already cropped up between the high-ranking Railways official and the WFI that remains suspended by the sports ministry.
Lochab feels the way forward for the WFI is to first win the trust of the wrestlers. “Whatever happened in last one year was unfortunate. The wrestlers need to be given the confidence that this body is made for their welfare. They need support and the federation’s role is to provide that support. The first objective should be to build trust,” said Lochab.
After coming to power, the WFI under new president Sanjay Singh took a slew of decisions that prompted the Sports Ministry to suspend the body for violation of Sports Code.
“In the two-three meetings that they have had, they have not observed their constitution. All the processes are there… you have to abide by the rules,” said Lochab. “The National championships were already announced in Jaipur before elections and it means that some commitments were made. If you are changing the venue there has to be some logic, there should be no inconvenience. A number of factors had to be discussed before cancelling an event and announcing another venue. They should not have done it.”
Lochab was not part of these WFI meetings. He had written to the WFI president Sanjay Singh over the conduct of meetings.
“The instructions are clear from the Ministry that the ad hoc committee will look after governance and hold sanctioned events and they will send entries (for tournaments). It has been cleared by the ministry multiple times. Now if some people are spreading rumours, they should not be heard at all. All good wrestlers came for the Nationals.”
“WFI is a suspended body. They have been restricted from doing activities. It is an Olympic qualification year. The ad-hoc panel will plan national camps after the tournament, provide all facility and exposure. I am sure there will be good system in place.”
“My concept is that work on merit, follow the constitution, observe rules. In Indian Railways, there are more than 900 players in more than 29 disciplines. The ecosystem is running so smoothly because we are very transparent. We talk about players. We discuss their problems and find solutions. So, I am already doing a bigger job than wrestling without any problem.”
‘WFI committees unconstitutional’
One of the important issues is the derecognition of WFI by the United World Wrestling (UWW). The world body had asked Indian body to put up a “robust plan” to provide “safe environment” to athletes, have a strong redressal mechanism to address concerns of abuse and harassment, and formation of an Athletes Commission, WFI during its executive committee meeting announced formation of a prevention of sexual harassment and athletes commission.
“When the WFI meeting itself was unconstitutional (WFI activities was stopped by ministry) , then the outcome will be unconstitutional. Nobody will accept it. You need to take players on board, discuss with them whether there are such people that they might feel uncomfortable with. First you need to build a system and follow the instructions of UWW, Sports Ministry, IOA and WFI constitution.”
As someone who is expected to play a key role in wrestling in the future, Lochab says the akhadas need to be strengthened with better facilities at the grassroot level, the training of coaches need to be upgraded and there will be drastic change in results in five years.
“Wrestling talent comes from akhadas and they have llmited resources. Akhadas can be categorised on their facilities, available talent etc. The whole ecosystem has to work together.”