Wrestling events stopped at Commonwealth Games 2022 due to security scare in Birmingham

A possible security scare at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on Friday, resulted in the venue for wrestling events being vacated as fans were asked to step out of the stadium. The United World Wrestling took to their official Twitter handle on Day 8 of the quadrennial showpiece event and said, “We're taking a short pause for a safety check and will resume action once we receive the go-ahead. #WrestleBirmingham”. The wrestling governing body followed up with a couple of tweets and apologised to the fans for the delay.

“Wrestling will resume in one hour. We'll restart at 12:15 (local time ). We apologize, wrestling fans. UPDATE FROM ENGLAND: Wrestling will resume at 12:45 (local time ),” United World Wrestling wrote.

More details about the security threat at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

As reported by PTI, the wrestling bouts were stopped in an embarrassing incident for the organisers. The spectators were reportedly asked to step out of the Ceventary Stadium when a speaker fell from the ceiling. Only five bouts were completed on Day 8 when the speaker used to relay the announcement, landed near one of the mat chairmen and raised a safety scare in the arena. 

The report further stated that all the fans were asked to vacate as the organisers ordered a thorough check before wrestling action could resume. A coach revealed details about the incident and said, “All are safe, they are just rechecking the whole system to avoid any untoward incident”. The bouts were then scheduled to resume at 5:15 PM IST.

Indian wrestlers in action on Day 8 of CWG 2022

The incident took place right after India’s Deepak Punia won his campaign opener against New Zealand’s Matthew Oxenham and advanced to the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling 86kg quarterfinals. Meanwhile, India’s Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia earned a win over Nauru’s Lowe Bingham and secured his place in the 65kg quarter-final. Indian wrestlers Anshu Malik, Sakshi Mallik, Divya Kakran and Mohit Grewal are scheduled to wrestle on Friday in their respective weight categories.