Mumbai: Olympic bronze-medallist wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik described Thursday as a black day for Indian wrestling after the national body for the sport was suspended by United World Wrestling for failing to conduct elections in time.
The Wrestling Federation of India is in limbo since the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) set up an Oversight Committee to conduct day-to-day functions after a large number of wrestlers led by Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh Phogat sat in protest at the Janta Mantar in Delhi alleging WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment of female grapplers and overall mismanagement.
The elections to pick the new administrators for further delayed with the Punjab and Haryana High Court granting an interim stay against the elections.
With the elections for the Wrestling Federation of India getting delayed, the UWW Thursday suspended the Indian body, making it clear that the Indian wrestlers will have to contest under the UWW flag in international competitions.
In a similar reading message on X, formerly Twitter, both Sakshi and Bajrang said because of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Indian grapplers will not be able to compete under the national flag.
“Today is a black day for Indian wrestling. Because of Brij Bhushan and his cronies, wrestlers from the country would not be able to participate along with the Tricolour. The National Flag is the country’s pride and taking a victory lap of the stadium with the Tricolour is every sportsperson’s dream. How much more Brij Bhushan and his people harm the country,” both Sakshi and Bajrang Punia wrote on the social media site.
With the United World Wrestling suspending the WFI, it is now up to the IOA-appointed committee to clear the way and conduct elections at the earliest, so that they can get the suspension lifted.
Though neither Brij Bhushan nor any of his family members are in the fray, his close aide Sanjay Singh had filed his nomination for the top post.
IANS
