Raphael Martinetti resigned as president of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) on Saturday after he was largely held to blame for the sport losing its spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Martinetti’s position became untenable when to many people’s surprise the 15-man International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board voted it off the programme on Tuesday.
While the decision was greeted with widespread dismay not least from Martinetti, his plea to his fellow wrestling board members in Phuket, Thailand, that he should lead the fight to have it reinstated failed to convince them and he received only 50% of the votes.
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