Wrestling Officials To Meet In Iran Over IOC's Decision To Drop Wrestling From Games

Officials from 10 of the world's top wrestling nations including Japan will meet Wednesday in Iran "in a bid to reverse" the IOC's decision to drop wrestling from the 2020 Games, according to KYODO. Delegations from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Russia and Turkey "will gather to discuss how to reverse the IOC's decision" (KYODO, 2/20). THE HINDU reported India's Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has urged six-time Olympian and Asian Games gold medalist, Randhir Singh, who is an IOC member, "to take up the case of wrestling" with the IOC exec board. The aim is to "ensure its retention in the core group of sports for the Olympics in 2020." In a letter to the IOC member, Secretary of Sports Pradeep Kumar Deb "emphasised the government’s belief that the exclusion of wrestling from 25 core sports needed to be reconsidered" (THE HINDU, 2/20).