United World Wrestling (UWW) chief Nenad Lalovic wants all stake-holders, including the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and India Olympic Association (IOA) to co-operate so that Indian grapplers are not inconvenienced by the uncertainty prevailing in the sport and can enter international competitions.

Lalovic, in his letter to the IOA ad-hoc panel in charge of wrestling, said UWW is willing to give recognition to the new WFI if the IOA gives a “formal confirmation”.

Several Olympic qualifying events are lined up this year with woman grappler Antim Panghal being the only one from India to have secured a Paris berth while the others have disappointed because of lack of training camps and competitions for more than a year due to protests by Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat.

“The WFI and the IOA are requested to cooperate so that the athletes are not prejudiced and are duly entered in international UWW events under the same conditions as detailed in our suspension letter of August 23, 2023. We thank you for your attention and collaboration for the sake of all wrestlers in India,” said the UWW president in his letter.

UWW also said it was “well-informed” about the newly-elected WFI under Sanjay Singh and was waiting for IOA to confirm the results of the elections.

“UWW requires a formal written confirmation by the respective National Olympic Committee (Indian Olympic Association), whereby it confirms the results of the elections.”