CHENNAI: In what could be termed as signs of good tiding in the ongoing acrimony between the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), the wrestlers employed with the latter are scheduled to compete at the NSF’s Federation Cup.

The Federation Cup [senior age group] in freestyle, Greco-Roman style and women wrestling will be organised at Lovely Professional University, Punjab on Saturday and Sunday. Although, the wrestlers will represent their respective states in the competition, the same was apparently ‘not allowed’ during the 2024 senior national championships from December 6 to 8.

A Greco-Roman wrestler, who was representing Rajasthan in the nationals, was allegedly asked to withdraw from the tournament after winning his first bout while a few were made to work without pay for competing albeit citing different reasons.

The Federation Cup, however, will see participation from more than 10 Railway wrestlers including the Paris Olympian Antim Panghal in 53kg. The other big Railway wrestlers, whose entries have been sent by their respective states, are Vishal Kaliraman (70kg) and Sagar Jaglan (86kg) — both in men’s freestyle.

The WFI has allocated quotas and given wildcard entries to states for the competition based on the performance of their wrestlers at the 2024 national championships. Among the Railway wrestlers listed for the event, nine will be representing Haryana in different styles.

“There were times when the WFI didn’t allow Railway wrestlers to represent their respective states in its tournaments. I had once requested the federation to allow Railway wrestlers to compete in an U23 tournament but it went in vain. As RSPB doesn’t field teams in the age-group tournaments, those wrestlers were seeking permission to represent their states but were not allowed. More than a dozen wrestlers had suffered due to it. The latest change is a welcome sign and it will be a big relief for Railway wrestlers,” Kripashankar Patel, Railway coach, told this daily.