New Delhi: Coming down heavily on the aggrieved wrestlers, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha on Thursday said the grapplers protesting on the streets amounts to indiscipline and is tarnishing the country's image. Decorated wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik are the three central characters in the renewed protests against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation by the grapplers.
"Wrestlers staging protest on streets amounts to indiscipline. It is tarnishing the image of India," Usha told reporters after IOA's Executive Committee meeting. The IOA also instituted a three-member adhoc panel, including former shooter Suma Shirur, Wushu Association of India chief Bhupendra Singh Bajwa and headed by a yet-to-be-named retired high court judge, to run the affairs of the WFI until a new body is elected.
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The IOA and the government had managed to placate the wrestlers with assurances to probe their allegations against Sharan and the WFI after the protest first broke out in January.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh indicates he won't go down without a fight
Accused of sexual harassment by India's top wrestlers, under-fire national federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh indicated that he will fight with all his might to prove his innocence. In a video message, the BJP MP, without making a mention of the allegations against him, indicated that he would not accept defeat till he has strength for fight.
"Friends, the day I reflect on my life, what I gained or lost, the day I feel I don't have the strength to fight, the day I feel helpless, I won't like to live a life like that. Instead of living such a life, I would wish that death embraces me," he said. Star wrestlers, including World Championships medal winner Vinesh Phogat, Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakashi Malik, have made sexual harassment allegations against Brij Bhushan and have been sitting on an indefinite protest at Jantar Mantar here.
The elite athletes resumed their agitation against the Wrestling Federation of India chief on Sunday, three months after they ended their sit-in protest following the formation of an oversight committee by the government to probe into the serious allegations. The Sports Ministry has not yet made public the findings of a six-member oversight panel that submitted its report on April 5. (PTI)
