New Delhi, Mar 29: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday decided at its Special General Meeting (SGM) that it will start functioning at 'no cost to the government' model if its request to lift the suspension is not considered by the Sports Ministry.

The WFI had its SGM in Noida after the UWW (the sport's world governing body) lifted its suspension and the IOA also dissolved the ad-hoc panel that was managing the affairs of the body.

The two developments paved the way for the elected office bearers to take back control of the federation, though the government is yet to lift its suspension.

The government had contended that the WFI flouted rules and put it under suspension, three days after it conducted polls to elect Sanjay Singh as president.

All 25 state associations attended the SGM even as secretary general Prem Chand Lochab, who is from the rival camp, skipped the meet.

"It was agreed that we will request the government to lift the suspension. The UWW has lifted the suspension and ad-hoc committee has also been dissolved, so there is no point of continuing with the suspension of the body," a WFI source told PTI.

"If the ministry will not consider the request and decide against providing financial assistance, then we have decided unanimously that we will start functioning at no cost to the government," added the source.

The government funds wrestlers' training, competition and exposure trips to foreign countries.

If the WFI goes ahead with the plan then it will also have to arrange and conduct the national camps on its own.

TWO-THIRD MAJORITY NOT MUST FOR ELECTION FOR NEW POST

The WFI also brought about an amendment to its Constitution to ensure that any candidate contesting the election for a new post is not required to win by a two-third majority.

"From now onwards only a simple majority will do if a joint secretary or a secretary decides to contest for a different post such as president. Only if a candidate is attempting to get elected to the post he is holding, he will be required to win by a two-third majority," explained the source.

At WFI's recent election Sanjay Singh was required to win the polls for the post of president by a two-third majority because he was a joint secretary in the previous dispensation.

SOC RECOGNITION NOT REQUIRED FOR STATES

The WFI has removed from its Constitution the clause that required a state association to fulfil the condition of having recognition from the State Olympic Committee (SOC) to get affiliated with the national body.

"From now onwards only WFI recognition is enough for a state association. A few state bodies had misused this clause to present them as genuine bodies despite suspension from WFI. They showed SOC recognition to claim that they are genuine affiliated state bodies. We have done away with this," informed the source.

ALL STATES TO FOLLOW NATIONAL SPORTS CODE

All the 25 state bodies were asked to ensure that the Sports Code is followed while conducting the elections and functioning. Age and tenure guidelines will have to be followed by all.

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Jakarta, Apr 27: A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia's main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning.

High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook strongly in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta's satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. The quake was also felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.

The agency warned of possible aftershocks.

Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta.

Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java's Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.

In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.