New Delhi: United World Wrestling (UWW), the international governing body of the sport, on Thursday (August 24) suspended the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI’s) membership with immediate effect.This means that Indian wrestlers will not be able to compete in the upcoming World Wrestling Championships under the Indian flag, and instead will have to participate as ‘neutral athletes’. Also, if an Indian athlete were to make it to the winners’ podium, the national anthem will not be played.The WFI’s membership was suspended because of the lack of elections in the organisation. Elections were supposed to be held in June 2023, but they were postponed.The WFI has been mired in controversy over the last year, with a number of medal-winning wrestlers accusing the federation’s president and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual assault and various forms of harassment. The wrestlers accused the Union government of protecting the BJP leader, and held a months-long protest in Delhi before being displaced by the police.UWW intimated the Indian Olympic Association of its decision in a letter, The Indian Express reported. . “The IOA has received a communication and will decide the future course of action, including the selection of teams for the World Championships,” an official told the newspaper.In June, when there had been widespread coverage of the wrestlers’ protest and the police’s manhandling and detention of wrestlers, the UWW had threatened to suspend India’s membership to protest the treatment of athletes. At the time, it had given the WFI a 45-day deadline to hold elections, and said “Failing to do so may lead UWW to suspend the federation, thereby forcing the athletes to compete under a neutral flag.”Earlier this year, UWW had announced that the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023, which were to be held in New Delhi, were relocated to Astana, Kazakhstan “due to the recent developments in Indian wrestling and a pending inquiry by the Indian sports ministry against the Wrestling Federation of India”, The News Minute reported.World Championship trials were to be held in Patiala on August 25 and 26. There fate is unclear at the moment.