(New Delhi) The National Wrestling Federation has banned an Indian wrestler for life from punching the referee after he was defeated in an air-conditioned hall in New Delhi as a heat wave rages.
Posted yesterday at 3:35pm.
Satinder Malik, a wrestler in the over 125kg weight class, was playing a qualifying match on Tuesday for the upcoming Commonwealth Games scheduled for this summer in Birmingham, UK, when the referee awarded his opponent’s win.
Sweaty and in a fit of anger, the loser ran across the carpet and cursed referee Jagbir Singh before punching him in the face.
“I feel very insulted because he insulted and beat me in front of everyone when I was just doing my duty,” the daily quoted Mr. Singh as saying. Indian Express.
“Never before has something like this happened, he not only hit the referee but also threatened to kill him,” Vinod Tomar, an official with the Indian Wrestling Federation, told AFP.
The outside temperature was 41 degrees Celsius with a severe heat wave raging in currently northern India. The mercury rose to 49 degrees in parts of New Delhi on Sunday.
“A complaint was filed with the police and we banned him for life,” Vinod Tomar added, stressing that the air conditioning system was not working.
Furious at his defeat, another wrestler, Vishal Kaliraman, punched him in the hall wall as the police had to intervene due to the brawls in the audience.
While heat waves are common in India in May and June, it was summer in particular early this year, and March was the hottest month on record since records began.