Wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Sunday posted a letter that some of the wrestlers who were protesting had written to the sports ministry. In it, they asked for an extension of the dates for trials for the Asian Games and the World Championships, which will take place later this year.
On Sunday, Vinesh posted a picture of the letter on social media. It doesn't say when it was written, but six wrestlers asked for more time to train before the trials.
Since the beginning of the year, the wrestlers have been holding demonstrations against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the current president of the Wrestling Federation of India, in response to allegations of sexual harassment.
The impromptu board of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had earlier exempted the protesting grapplers from part in the trials, which was vigorously condemned by mentors and guardians of different grapplers including Yogeshwar Dutt.
Additionally, the ad-hoc panel had requested that the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) extend the submission deadline for entries by one month, to July 15.
"It is requested to you that due to their participation in the wrestlers' protest, the below-mentioned wrestlers need some additional time to prepare for the trials for the Asian Games and the World Championships," the undated letter to sports minister Anurag Thakur reads.
Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Sakshi Malik (62 kg), her husband Satyawart Kadian (97 kg), Sangeeta Phogat (57 kg), Jitender Kumar (86 kg), and Vinesh (53 kg) herself made the request for time to train for the trials.
The letter, which was signed by all six wrestlers mentioned, added, "Hence it is a request to you that trials must be held for these wrestlers after August 10, 2023."
"The protesting wrestlers had only requested to postpone the date of the trials, since due to our participation in the protests for the last six months, we did not get enough time for practice," Vinesh wrote on her Twitter page in addition to sharing the letter.
"We understand that this is a serious matter, which is why we are sharing this letter with you. The enemy is trying to break the unity among the wrestlers, we cannot let them have success," Vinesh continued.
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