The rising graph of the country’s grapplers seems to be having no positive impact on the proposed Indian Wrestling League (IWL) as it has been postponed once again due to mild response from prospective franchises.

IWL, a tournament on the lines of popular cricket extravaganza Indian Premier League (IPL), was announced after impressive showing by Indian grapplers at the 2012 Olympics and was initially scheduled for January-February this year. It was later postponed to November and now the wait is going to get longer.

“There is no possibility of having the proposed league this year. We want to hold it on a very big platform including participation from world—class wrestlers and more prize money.

This requires huge investments and we are still working towards it,” IWL commissioner and chairman G S Mander told PTI.

“We have now planned it for November next year after World Championships in September,” he said.

The organisers are now planning to stage the multi—city franchise based tournament in a bigger and a more entertaining format that would require a seasoned commercial partner to promote the event.

“We first mooted the idea of this league in 2011. Since then the popularity of our sport has grown leaps and bound.

Also, the historic performance at the World Championships has definitely added to buzz,” Mander said while adding its existing promoter Leisure Sports Management (LSM) would be inexperienced to handle the event.

“We are looking for a new partner who has some experience of holding big tournaments. We hope to finalise it soon,” he added.

While the league drew interest from states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the organisers were still looking for enthusiasm from franchises based in Southern and Eastern states.

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