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Tag: Wrestling in India

  • Wrestlers whinge of unpaid dues to Oversight Committee; Brij Bhushan says he made contract announcement in ‘pleasure’ of having a sponsor

    — “In 2019, I used to be instructed I’d be given Rs 1 lakh monthly from the cash they won from (sponsorship handle) Tata. After that, I were given a cheque of Rs 5.5 lakh and later, in 2021, Rs 4.5 lakh. I won roughly Rs 10 lakh,” Ravi Dahiya, Tokyo Olympics silver medallist.

    — “I used to be in Grade B and was once entitled to Rs 25 lakh consistent with 12 months as consistent with the contract. Thus far, I’ve won 2 cheques totalling to Rs 5.25 roughly,” Pooja Dhanda, 2018 International Championship bronze medallist.

    — “I used to be promised Rs 1 lakh monthly however I simply won Rs 6 lakh lump sum and was once instructed I’d get the remainder of the cash later,” Deepak Punia, 2019 International Championship silver medallist.

    Those are testimonies of one of the most wrestlers who deposed sooner than the government-appointed Oversight Committee, whose complete file is discussed within the Delhi Police chargesheet.

    The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had introduced annual central contracts for Indian wrestlers in 2018. In the similar 12 months Tata Motors got here on board because the predominant sponsor of the WFI.

    Just like the trio, each wrestler who gave the impression for the hearings identified the false guarantees made via the Wrestling Federation of India, unpaid dues and non-existent contracts, with considered one of them telling the committee she puzzled the place the ‘sponsorship cash promised to them went’.

    But, as they did with the sexual harassment allegations, the MC Mary Kom-led panel didn’t elevate a crimson flag or counsel an investigation or audit from competent government.

    As an alternative, it simply advised that the WFI ‘use products and services of professionals in contract control’, known as for ‘transparent conversation’ with stakeholders and prompt them to ‘deal with right kind data of any contract which they have got entered’.

    When the govt appointed the Oversight Committee in January, it additionally tasked the contributors to appear into the allegations of monetary mismanagement made via the wrestlers aside from the sexual harassment claims.

    In its abstract titled ‘Breach of Gamers Contract’, the panel famous: “Quite a lot of gamers right through their deposition introduced out that they’d a freelance with Tata Motors, who’re identify sponsors of the WFI, by which they had been promised that each participant can be supplied sponsorship cash in line with a definite grading formulated via WFI.”

    In the course of the examinations of ‘quite a lot of paperwork supplied via the WFI’, it emerged that there was once ‘no such provision made within the contract’.

    Alternatively, after the athletes had demanded they must be paid from the sponsorship quantity in the event that they had been to put on singlets bearing the sponsor’s emblem, a recent contract was once drafted via the federation’s industrial companions.

    Brij Bhushan mentioned the announcement of paid contracts for gamers was once made in ‘pleasure’ of having a brand new sponsor on board, which by no means materialised.

    Right through his deposition, the WFI’s assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a co-accused within the sexual harassment case, mentioned they signed a freelance with ‘Vinesh, Bajrang and Sakshi’. Tomar mentioned there have been two different athletes who signed the contract however he ‘couldn’t have in mind their names.’ When the committee requested for a replica of the contract neither Tomar nor the athletes had been in ownership of it.

    In keeping with Tomar, Bajrang’s annual contract was once value Rs 30 lakh, Vinesh, he mentioned, was once both ’Rs 20 or 25 lakh’ and Sakshi’s contract was once valued at Rs 20 lakh.

    When a legal professional co-opted into the committee requested concerning the procedure to make a decision which participant would get a freelance and its value, Tomar answered: “(Former) President (Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh), Secretary (VN Prasood), and so on met and made up our minds that gamers who’re getting ready for the Olympics would get Rs 30 lakh, Rs 25 lakh for International Championship medallist…”

    Alternatively, the athletes mentioned they didn’t obtain the promised sum.

    International Championship silver medallist Anshu Malik instructed the committee: “In February 2021, I learn a observation (via the federation) in a newspaper that I in conjunction with Sonam (Malik) was once upgraded to A class even though we didn’t obtain anything else in Grade B… I had won one cheque of Rs 2.5 lakh however didn’t know for which class contract it was once. We weren’t requested to signal any contract however had been instructed we’d get Rs 2.5 lakh each 3 months. Later, I won one (installment of) Rs 2.5 lakh on June 8 however not anything up to now after that.”

    Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik mentioned she was once ‘at a loss for words up to now’ whether or not she featured in Grade A or B. “I feel I won an installment of Rs five or six lakh. The place the remainder of the cash went I have no idea. I used to name the federation and so they put it at the sponsors whilst the sponsors blamed the federation,” Sakshi instructed the committee.

    International Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat mentioned she was once promised a freelance value Rs 25 lakh however were given paid Rs 11-11.50 lakh in two installments.

    Former International Championship bronze medallist and ex-Asian champion Sarita Mor mentioned the federation claimed they’d despatched 3 installments however she won only one, amounting to Rs 67,000.

    Bajrang, whose contract was once value Rs 30 lakh, was once given Rs 22 lakh, in step with Tomar. Bajrang contested the declare, pronouncing he didn’t obtain the mentioned quantity. When the committee countered Tomar, asking him why the promised Rs 30 lakh was once now not paid to Bajrang, he blamed it at the sponsors’ calls for.

  • After Haridwar huddle, wrestlers reconsider transfer to drop medals in Ganga

    ON An afternoon of excessive drama, the protesting wrestlers, led through Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Global Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, introduced on Tuesday that they might ‘immerse’ their medals within the Ganga river, and reached Har ki Pauri in Haridwar through night time.

    After sitting in a huddle at the banks of the river for over an hour-and-a-half, the place a few of them might be observed sobbing as they clutched their medals and citations, the wrestlers reversed their determination, quickly after Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Naresh Tikait reached the spot and requested them to defer their determination through 5 days.

    Protesting wrestlers take a seat at Har ki Pauri, in Haridwar district. (PTI)

    Sooner than Tikait’s arrival, as the group on the ghat grew larger, a human chain of members of the family and different pehelwans shielded the wrestlers. Sakshi’s mom, Sudesh, held her daughter tight; Vinesh’s husband, Somvir Rathee, additionally a grappler, embraced her as she broke down and lined her face.

    Somewhat over an hour later, as Tikait and his supporters arrived on the spot, the wrestlers and the farm chief went into a short lived huddle. And, mins later, the wrestlers made their solution to their parked cars.

    The wrestlers mentioned there are a few explanation why they modified their minds, together with a telephone name from a BJP chief soliciting for a while, and power from the households to not pass forward with their plans.

    Wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia began the protest on Wednesday. (Picture: Praveen Khanna)

    “We had been confident that our calls for could be met, so we stepped again. Alternatively, in case the federal government is going again on its phrase, we can go back to the Ganga once more,” mentioned a wrestler who didn’t need to be named.

    “Now we have sought 5 days’ time and instructed the wrestlers to attend. After that, we can have a mahapanchayat and take the following plan of action,” Tikait mentioned, after the wrestlers left Har Ki Pauri.

    A Union Minister from western Uttar Pradesh may be learnt to have reached out to the wrestlers and advised them to not ‘immerse’ their medals.

    Chatting with The Indian Specific later, Tikait mentioned he sought after to be sure that the wrestlers didn’t take any step in anger. “Bacche gusse me wahan chale gaye the… Humne unhe manaya ki aap aisa mat karo…(They were given indignant and went there… we satisfied them now not to do that),” he mentioned.

    Sakshi Malik, in blue, an Indian wrestler who gained a bronze medal on the 2016 Summer time Olympics, is detained through the police right through a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar. (PTI)

    Requested if he had spoken to the federal government sooner than asking the wrestlers to defer their motion, he spoke back, “No.” Requested if he would accompany wrestlers on their as far back as Delhi, he mentioned, “We can talk about this.”

    Tikait, who’s the top of the Balyan Khap, mentioned he used to be at his place of abode in Muzaffarnagar until night time, when he heard of the wrestlers’ determination to visit Haridwar. He, together with different khap leaders and farmer leaders, then made their solution to Haridwar.

    “Nationwide president of Bhartiya Kisan Union and head of Balyan Khap, Chaudhary Naresh Tikait ji, and heads of alternative khaps are attaining Haridwar quickly to satisfy wrestlers. All wrestlers are asked to not take fallacious steps,” tweeted Tikait’s more youthful brother Rakesh Tikait at 6.28 pm.

    Previous within the day, in a commonplace remark posted on their social media accounts, the wrestlers mentioned they had been taking the drastic step of parting with their hard earned medals as a result of the style through which they had been handled through the police on Would possibly 28.

    Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat and Bajrang Punia with supporters right through their protest march in opposition to new Parliament construction, in New Delhi, Sunday, Would possibly 28, 2023. (PTI Picture)

    Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh, who started their sit-in at Jantar Mantar on April 23, had been a number of the over 700 detained on Sunday. They had been dragged, lifted off the street and put into police trucks once they attempted to go safety barricades and march to the brand new Parliament construction, out of doors which a ladies’s mahapanchayat used to be scheduled. They had been later launched.

    “All of you noticed what took place on Would possibly 28, the best way we had been handled and detained through the police. The police now not best cleared our protest house at Jantar Mantar, but additionally registered FIRs in opposition to us, although we had been protesting peacefully. Have feminine athletes dedicated some crime through soliciting for justice for the sexual harassment dedicated in opposition to them? Now we have been handled like criminals,” mentioned the remark.

    “Those medals are our lifestyles and soul. When we ‘immerse’ them within the Ganga, there could be no that means for us to are living. So we can pass to India Gate and take a seat on a quick unto loss of life,” it mentioned.

    The Delhi Police, on the other hand, mentioned the wrestlers would now not be allowed to protest at India Gate as this can be a “nationwide monument and now not a web page for demonstrations”. On Monday, the Delhi Police had mentioned the wrestlers would now not be allowed again at Jantar Mantar however may protest at any “appropriate position” after in quest of permission.

    Wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat and Bajrang Punia together with different protesters

    The selection to section with their medals used to be a tricky name and an issue of “self appreciate”, the wrestlers mentioned of their remark.

    Whilst they’ve been protesting at the streets of the Capital for over a month now, interesting to fellow sportspersons to rally in the back of them, turning to politicians for toughen and khap leaders for recommendation, or even making direct appeals to the High Minister, the occasions over the weekend driven them right into a nook, forcing them to imagine the drastic step.

    It incorporated failed late-night negotiations with the federal government and refined makes an attempt to damage the gang, mentioned assets. The final straw used to be their forceful eviction from Jantar Mantar.

    In step with assets, at the eve in their proposed march to the brand new Parliament, a high-ranking cupboard minister met Sakshi and her husband. All the way through the last-minute parleys, the federal government is learnt to have proposed that motion could be taken in opposition to Brij Bhushan after the police document a chargesheet. The wrestlers, on the other hand, had been steadfast of their call for for his rapid arrest.

    Sangeeta Phogat and Vinesh Phogat being detained through police. (Specific picture through Amit Mehra)

    With the police submitting FIRs in opposition to them on Sunday, the wrestlers mentioned they spent the entire of Monday hiding within the fields. “The government will have to have stuck the accused, however they had been seeking to threaten the ladies who had been the sufferers to finish their protest and to damage them,” they mentioned.

    The wrestlers are challenging the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment through seven feminine wrestlers, together with a minor. Singh has been named in two FIRs registered through the Delhi Police on April 28, together with one underneath the POCSO Act touching on the allegations of the minor wrestler.

  • Global wrestling frame UWW ‘condemns detention of wrestlers’, threatens suspension if elections no longer held

    On an afternoon that India’s most sensible wrestlers like Rio 2016 bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, Tokyo 2020 medallist Bajrang Punia and global championship medallist Vinesh Phogat nearly immersed their medals in River Ganga, the United Global Wrestling (UWW), the worldwide governing frame for wrestling, got here out with a powerful observation condemning the “remedy and detention of the wrestlers”.

    India’s most sensible wrestlers had been talked out in their plans to “immerse” their medals into the river as a part of their ongoing call for to have Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh arrested. The wrestlers have claimed that he sexually burdened and abused many ladies wrestlers. The wrestlers have been protesting at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since April 23.

    “For a number of months, United Global Wrestling has adopted with nice worry the placement in India the place wrestlers are protesting over allegations of abuse and harassment via the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI),” the observation stated sooner than including: “UWW will request additional details about the following optionally available common meeting from the IOA and the Advert-hoc Committee of the WFI. The 45-day cut-off date that used to be to start with set to carry this optionally available meeting can be revered. Failing to take action might lead UWW to droop the federation, thereby forcing the athletes to compete below a impartial flag. It’s reminded that UWW already took a measure on this state of affairs via reallocating the Asian Championship deliberate in New Delhi previous this 12 months.”

    On Sunday, when the wrestlers attempted to march to the brand new Parliament development, they had been detained via Delhi Police, who then dragged the wrestlers, hoisted them off the streets and put them into police vehicles sooner than detaining them. The police additionally registered proceedings in opposition to the protestors.

    “The occasions of those ultimate days are much more being concerned that the wrestlers had been arrested and briefly detained via the police for beginning a march of protest. The website the place that they had been protesting for greater than a month has additionally been cleared out via the government,” wrote UWW. “UWW firmly condemns the remedy and detention of the wrestlers. It expresses its sadness over the loss of result of the investigations up to now. UWW urges the related government to behavior an intensive and independent investigation into the allegations.”

    It went on so as to add that it is going to hang a gathering with the wrestlers to inquire about their situation and protection and reconfirm our enhance for an even and simply solution in their considerations.