Busan: The controversy surrounding the participation of grappler Anil Kumar Mann in the 14th Asian Games took a fresh twist on Saturday with the Indian wrestling coach saying Mann had been cleared to take part in the event.

The announcement came a day after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced that Mann would not be allowed to participate since ‘he had come on his own’.

IOA officials admitted that Mann had been cleared to take part in the 96 kg category but could not give a satisfactory explanation to the whole episode. The Indian wrestler's name figures in the official participants list despite IOA's claim that it had not forwarded Mann's name to the organisers.

Wrestling coach Piara Ram Sondhi said the organisers had cleared Mann to take part in the event and there was no confusion about his status now. IOA secretary general Randhir Singh said the wrestling coach informed IOA officials about this new development on Friday night.

"We have been informed by the coach that he (Mann) will take part since he has been cleared by the organisers," he said. Another senior IOA official, however, said the IOA had not received any communication from the Busan Asian Games Organising Committee (BAGOC) on this issue.

The Mann issue has been quite intriguing since the IOA officials had on Friday claimed that the grappler had not been cleared by the government and had come to the Games on his own.

IOA president Suresh Kalmadi had also said that Mann was not staying in the Games village since he did not have the participant’s identity card but Indian journalists had spotted him inside the village along with his teammates.

Strangely, Mann's name along with his statistical data, figured in the official website for the Games which could not be possible if his name had not been forwarded through the IOA as per stipulations.

The whole episode has painted the IOA officials in a poor light and even a section of the international media have reported on this incident.

PTI