Wrestlers stage protest against WFI President's Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh 'dictatorship'

Indian wrestlers, including top draws like Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, are staging protests against WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and his "dictatorship", besides pledging to fight until the end for the injustice.

Image credit: PTI

In an unprecedented move, India's top wrestlers, including Tokyo Olympics 2020 bronze medallist Bajrang Punia and world championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, orchestrated a protest against the "dictatorship" of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Wednesday. The wrestlers did not disseminate their grudges' precise points or requests. Still, it was unmistakable that they were fed up with how Singh was running the WFI, also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) from Kaiserganj. Bajrang, Vinesh, Rio Olympics 2016 medallist Sakshi Malik, world championship medallist Sarita Mor, Sangeeta Phogat, Satyawart Malik, Jitender Kinha and Commonwealth Games (CWG) medallist Sumit Malik were among 30 wrestlers to assemble at Jantar Mantar.

"Our fight is not against the government or Sports Authority of India [SAI]. It is against WFI. We will share details later in the day. 'Yeh ab aar paar ki ladai hai' [It's a fight to the finish]," Bajrang Punia described to PTI. Bajrang's support staff, including his coach Sujeet Mann and physio Anand Dubey, also entered the protest.

"The dictatorship will not be tolerated," sounded another wrestler. Singh has been the WFI chief since 2011 and was elected for the tole for his third successive term in February 2019. "The players make every effort to win medals for the country, but the federation has not done anything except downgrade us. Arbitrary rules are being framed to torture the athletes," tweeted Sakshi.

Anshu Malik, Sangeeta Phogat and other wrestlers also tweeted along the same lines with the #BoycottWFIPresident and tagged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to imply the severity of the issue.

(With inputs from PTI)