Wrestlers Protest: Things are getting quite ugly between the Wrestling Federation of India and the wrestlers who represent India at the highest level. The protest saw India's top wrestlers Bajrang Punia and world championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, stage a protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Wednesday. This is the second consecutive day of the protest as the wrestlers are protesting against the "dictatorship" of national federation President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Top Indian wrestlers including three-time CWG champion Vinesh Phogat and the Olympic bronze medallist duo of Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, sat in protest at the Jantar Mantar for the second day straight against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment. Babita, a former wrestler, arrived at the protest and heard the demands of the grapplers.
Babita said:
I will try to get a solution. I am a wrestler first and then a political person. I know their pain and I will try to get the solution that the wrestlers want.
Sakshi Malik also accused the federation of mismanagement and she along with Bajrang and Anshu Malik has demanded that the WFI be disbanded and a new federation be formed. Wrestlers including Bajrang, his wife Sangeeta, Vinesh, Sarita Mor, Anshu Malik, and Antim Pangal were called for a meeting with Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, a few minutes after Babita left the protest site. On Wednesday, Vinesh had claimed that the WFI chief has been sexually exploiting women wrestlers for many years, a charge that the sports administrator and BJP MP has vehemently denied. She also alleged that several coaches at the national camp in Lucknow have also exploited women wrestlers.
Bajrang, Vinesh, Rio Olympics medallist Sakshi Malik, world championship medallist Sarita Mor, Sangeeta Phogat, Satyawart Malik, Jitender Kinha, and CWG medallist Sumit Malik were among 30 wrestlers who assembled at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday (January 18) and have been joined by several other wrestlers.
