Indian wrestlers are protesting the International Olympic Committee for not banning Russia from the Olympics in 2021.
The International Olympic Committee has announced that it will not ban Russia from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, despite evidence of state-sponsored doping. This comes as a shock to Indian wrestlers, who had been hoping that they would be able to compete against clean athletes. India had been calling for a blanket ban on Russian athletes since 2017, when an investigation revealed widespread doping among Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The investigation also found that Russia’s government officials were involved in covering up positive tests and swapping dirty samples with clean ones.
Wrestling is India’s national sport and is hugely popular across the country. As a result, India was hoping that they would be able to compete against other nations without having to face any Russian competitors.
