The WFI has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. After Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of the WFI, wrestler Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from the sport, saying that she wasn't giving up her fight but didn't want to continue. 

In January 2023, three wrestlers - Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat - launched a protest against former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually harassing six female wrestlers. The president was suspended and the WFI was subsequently suspended by United World Wrestling (UWW). Indian wrestlers competed in the 2023 World Championships under the UWW flag. 

On 21 December the new president was elected, who turned out to be Brij Bhushan's protégé Sanjay Singh. Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from the sport, saying that she wasn't giving up the fight, but didn't want to continue.

On 24 December, the Sports Ministry had suspended the Sanjay Singh-led WFI for its "hasty decision" to hold the U-15 and U-20 National Championships without giving sufficient time to the wrestlers to prepare and had also asked the IOA to constitute a committee after taking the decision. The IOA has now constituted a three-member committee comprising new Chairman Mr Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, Mr MM Somaya and Ms Manjusha Kanwar.

The ad hoc committee formed will be tasked with overseeing the functioning of the WFI, which includes the selection of athletes, submission of entries for athletes to participate in international events, organisation of sporting activities, handling of bank accounts, website management and other related responsibilities. 

"As the IOA believes that compliance with governance standards to be essential to ensure fair play, transparency and accountability and to safeguard the interests of athletes as advocated by the IOC and to ensure continuity, it has been decided to appoint an ad hoc committee with immediate effect," the official press release said. 

At the end of 2023, Bajrang Punia urged the Sports Ministry to start all wrestling activities as soon as possible to save the future of the athletes. The first step was to form a national team squad for the Zagreb Open from 10-14 January. 13 Indian wrestlers will travel to Croatia as the Zagreb Open is considered an important part of the preparation for the Olympic qualifying tournaments in April and May. Bajrang Punia will miss the tournament due to injury.

Meanwhile, a new protest began in New Delhi on 3 January. Junior wrestlers took a stand against the trio of Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat. They were protesting against the trio for "obstructing the organisation of wrestling programmes at the junior level and thereby hampering their growth". 

The wrestlers were seen holding banners depicting the anti-trio's stance and calling for their removal. Some banners even appealed to United World Wrestling (UWW) to take action against the trio of Punia, Malik and Phogat, the Wion reported. 

The formation of the ad hoc committee was an important step for the IOA to bring Indian wrestlers back into the Paris 2024 talks, but there is still much to be done to resolve all the tensions between the wrestlers and the WFI.