The pinnacle of the Indian Olympic Affiliation (IOA), PT Usha, visited Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, the place the rustic’s best wrestlers had been staging an illustration for the previous 11 days. They’re in protest towards Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), who they declare has sexually assaulted a lot of feminine competition.
#WATCH | Indian Olympic Affiliation president PT Usha reached Delhi’s Jantar Mantar the place wrestlers are protesting since 11 days. percent.twitter.com/Vs3Lp1ZHaO
— ANI (@ANI) Would possibly 3, 2023
She was once noticed conversing with the wrestlers together with Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia. Just about per week after she slammed the athletes protesting at the streets constituted indiscipline and broken the country’s recognition, she arrived on the protest web page.
Consistent with Bajrang Punia, she said that she is supporting the wrestlers and can search justice on their behalf. She additionally added that she is an athlete first. She promised to appear into the topic and unravel it in an instant. She additionally affirmed that she was once misinterpreted.
She (PT Usha) mentioned that she is status with us and can get us justice and that she is an athlete first after which anything. She mentioned that she is going to glance into our factor and unravel it as early as imaginable. We will be able to stay right here until Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is going to prison:… percent.twitter.com/qhKi1jNtow
— ANI (@ANI) Would possibly 3, 2023
Alternatively, the previous track-and-field icon left with out chatting with the media collected on the protest web page.
This contemporary construction was once witnessed after Sports activities Minister Anurag Thakur emphatically discussed that “Top Minister Narendra Modiji’s govt has all the time stood with avid gamers” and “sports activities and athletes are their precedence.”
Boxing legend MC Mary Kom, who additionally served because the chair of the sports activities ministry’s oversight committee that produced a file at the allegations of sexual harassment, has no longer replied to the present demonstrations.
On Tuesday, Om Prakash Karhana, a 36-year-old former shot putter and Asian champion who was once at the IOA’s athletes committee, spoke out in favour of the wrestlers. “I’m no longer talking on behalf of the athletes fee however my private view is if athletes have pop out within the open to struggle for his or her rights, the device within the nation must take steps to ship justice to them once imaginable,” he remarked.
He additional identified that denying the wrestlers’ accusations would harm Indian recreation since the athletes would lose religion within the device. The 36-year-old retired ultimate yr.
In the meantime, the Bharatiya Janta Birthday celebration MP and WFI supremo Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has defended himself towards the wrestlers’ fees. He argued that almost all of wrestlers within the country again him and that only a small collection of wrestlers attached to a Congress chief have introduced accusations towards him.
“90% of the athletes & guardians of Haryana accept as true with the Wrestling Federation of India. A couple of households and the women who’ve levelled allegations belonged to the similar Mahadev Wrestling Academy. The shopper of the academy is Deepender Singh Hooda,” he countered.
Following their preliminary protest in January, a number of outstanding wrestlers, together with Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and Vinesh Phogat, returned to Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on April 23 to voice their opposition to the WFI leader.
Hours after the Best Courtroom heard the case, the Delhi Police filed two FIRs in reference to allegations that named the six-term member of parliament as an culprit.
The IOA had established a committee headed by means of M C Mary Kom to probe the accusations prior to the wrestlers made the verdict to withdraw their protest. Vinod Tomar, the Wrestling Federation’s Further Secretary, had additionally been suspended by means of the Union Sports activities Ministry.
