Wrestlers, together with World Championships medal winners Vinesh PhogatOlympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malikhave made sexual harassment allegations in opposition to Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and feature been sitting on an indefinite protest at Jantar Mantar.
The elite athletes resumed their agitation in opposition to the WFI leader on Sunday, 3 months when they ended their sit-in protest following the formation of an oversight committee via the federal government to probe into the intense allegations.
The sports activities ministry has now not but made public the findings of a six-member oversight panel that submitted its file on April 5.
IOA leader Usha termed the protest as gross indiscipline and stated that the wrestlers will have to have come to the IOA’s Athletes Commission.
“This amounts to gross indiscipline and tarnishing the image of the country. It sets a bad precedent. Instead of hitting the streets, the wrestlers should have come to the IOA’s Athletes Commission. The commission is headed by MC Mary Kom as chairperson and Achanta Sharath Kamal as vice chairperson,” stated Usha.
Reacting to Usha’s remark, Bajrang stated that we didn’t be expecting one of these harsh reaction from her.
“We did not expect such a harsh response from the IOA President as we expected support from her,” Bajrang Punia instructed PTI.
“We believe that sports should not be affected, sportspersons should not be affected and day-to-day functioning of a federation should continue. What wrestlers have done is not good for the country. It’s not good for the image of the country. Our honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been doing so much for sports and then you have these wrestlers sitting on the streets and protesting. This sets a bad precedent,” stated IOA’s joint secretary and appearing CEO Kalyan Chaubey.
“The IOA’s investigation into the sexual harassment issue is still going on. The seven-member committee probing the matter has got a list of witnesses. These witnesses will be invited to face the committee. Based on that, the report will be submitted to us in due course,” Chaubey added.
Meanwhile, the IOA has appointed a three-member ad-hoc committee to run daily affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and to carry elections to its new government council inside of 45 days beginning Thursday.
The three-members are Bhupendra Singh Bajwa, Suma Shirur and a retired High Court pass judgement on, who will probably be named in coming days.
Bajwa is the president of the Wushu Association of India and in addition India’s chef-de-mission for the Hangzhou Asian Games, scheduled later this 12 months. He will probably be representing the IOA’s Executive Council.
Shooter Suma is an Olympian, nationwide trainer and a Dronacharya awardee. She will constitute the IOA’s Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOM).