Boxing legend and Olympic medalist Mary Kom will head the Sports Ministry’s monitoring committee to manage the day-to-day affairs of the wrestling body amid the #MeToo controversy. The ministry on Saturday directed the Wrestling Federation of India to suspend with immediate effect all ongoing activities, including the ranking tournament to be held in UP’s Gonda, the bastion of Sharan. It also suspended Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), a fallout of sexual harassment and corruption allegations against the sports body’s chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Last week, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur announced the formation of the inspection committee after a long meeting with protesting wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Babita Phogat among others.
“It has been decided that a monitoring committee will be constituted. The names will be announced tomorrow. The committee will complete its inquiry within four weeks. The wrestlers put forth their demands. I have assured them that appropriate steps will be taken. All Thakurs Allegations of sexual harassment and financial embezzlement will be investigated, said at a press conference on Saturday.
“Till the probe is over, he (Singh) will step aside and cooperate with the probe and the monitoring committee will run the day-to-day affairs of the WFI.”
Earlier, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) constituted a seven-member committee to probe allegations of sexual harassment of wrestlers against federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Mary Kom is also the chairperson of that panel. Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) president Sahdev Yadav, archer Dola Banerjee, Olympic medalist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt among others are part of the panel. There will also be two lawyers in the committee. The panel will hold talks with the protesting wrestlers and then the WFI before arriving at any conclusion.
Vinesh Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold at both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, on Wednesday said that “women wrestlers have been molested by national coaches over the years and have been threatened with death by WFI officials”. She along with other top Indian wrestlers has been leading a massive protest at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since Wednesday, demanding the removal of the WFI president.
Rio Olympics medalist Sakshi Malik, World Championship medalist Sarita Mor, Sangeeta Phogat, Anshu Malik, Sonam Malik, Satyawart Malik, Jitendra Kinha, Amit Dhankhar and Commonwealth Games medalist Sumit Malik were among the wrestlers who turned up at the famous protest site. were gathered.
“It is better to die once than to die slowly everyday. We are not able to sleep at night because we do not know whether we are going to participate in the competition or not. We are going to the national camp or not. There is a suspicion that these coaches and their supporters may adulterate our food and we may turn positive during the doping test,” Vinesh Phogat earlier told NDTV.
“So we are concerned about all these things. As president Brijbhushan ji was saying that he is innocent, I am telling you that we have sent him many mails but he has not replied to any of them. Now what should we have to go.” In his room for each and everything?”
World championship medalist and Olympian Vinesh also claimed that women wrestlers have been exploited by several coaches at a national camp in Lucknow, adding that there are some women in the camp who approach wrestlers at the behest of the WFI president .
Vinesh said, “Some coaches are close to national federations. Those coaches have exploited young girls. Don’t know how many young girls have suffered because of them.”
The 28-year-old, however, clarified that he himself had not faced such abuse but claimed that he had received death threats from officials close to him at the behest of the WFI president as he tried to attract the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Had the courage wrestling when she met him after the Tokyo Games.
“I know at least 10-20 women wrestlers who have told me about the sexual abuse they faced at the hands of the WFI president. They told me their stories. I can’t name them right now, but I can definitely reveal Am.” Name if we meet the country’s prime minister and home minister,” Vinesh said.
“I have received death threats from people who are close to the WFI president. If anything happens to any of us sitting here, only the WFI president will be responsible.”
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