Satender Malik Righ with his coach. Picture Credit: Twitter
Referee Jabgir Singh has received backing from the United World Wrestling (UWW) Referee Commission for his decision against Air Force wrestler Satendar Malik which sparked a lot of debate in the wrestling community. Notably, Singh had awarded two points to Satendar’s opponent Mohit during the 125 kg CWG trials which eventually resulted in Mohit winning the match.
This decision had irked Satendar who had then physically assaulted Jagbir Singh. With so much controversy around the decision and Satendar accusing the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) of bias, the sporting authority had sent the video of the bout to the UWW referee commission, seeking a second opinion.
Now, the UWW Referee Commission has sent a green signal to WFI in this matter and has termed Singh’s decision completely right. UWW Referee Commission members Antonio Silvestri and Ibrahim Cicioglu have concluded that "the referee team did a good job and the correct wrestler was declared as the winner of the bout" after analyzing the video sent by WFI. Notably, the WFI received the reply from UWW on May 29.
I knew it from that day the decision was right: Jagbir Singh
After receiving the response from UWW Referee Commission, Jagbir Singh reacted by saying that he had confidence in his decision from that day itself. "I knew from that day that my decision was right, I have spent my whole life either watching or judging wrestling bouts. It's been 32 years now. I am a qualified UWW referee and since 2007 I have been to 15 World Championships," Jagbir told PTI.
"Now the Air Force must re-think. They took him for wrestling and he is now banned for life. It was surprising that the Air Force did not even send a staffer along with their wrestlers," he added.