In a major development, the Assam Wrestling Association has been recognized as an affiliated member of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), reports said on Saturday.

With this, the Assam Wrestling Association can now participate in the election process and nominate a representative to the electoral college.

Notably, the Assam Wrestling Association had reached out to the Gauhati High Court seeking inclusion in the Electoral College as a state unit of the WFI. The state wrestling body was barred from recognition for the past 30 years, sources said.

The elections to the WFI were originally scheduled for July 11. The Gauhati High Court delayed it after the Assam Wrestling Association filed a plea seeking a right to participate in the election process. The Assam Wrestling Association, in the petition, said that though it was entitled to be an affiliated member of the WFI, it was not granted one despite a recommendation made by the WFI Executive Committee at the WFI’s General Council in Gonda on November 15, 2014.

As per sources, the petitioner also argued that the election process should be halted unless the state body is affiliated with the WFI and allowed to nominate their representative to the electoral college.