Mallika Dureja
Thursday, the Sports Ministry extended the term of the MC Mary Kom-led committee that is investigating the sexual harassment claims made by some of India’s top wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, its officials, and instructors.
“MYAS has granted the Oversight Committee for wrestling an additional two weeks to submit a report regarding the complaint lodged by a group of wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India. Per the request of the Oversight Committee, the extension has been granted “In a statement, the ministry said.
It also signifies that the oversight committee will continue to manage the WFI administration until the investigation is complete.
“The extension also applies to other responsibilities assigned to the committee, including the day-to-day administration of WFI,” the statement read.
On January 23, five members were appointed to the committee. It included Olympic bronze medalist Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, and former SAI administrators Radhica Sreeman and Rajesh Rajagopalan, in addition to Mary Kom. A week later, however, Babita Phogat was added as the sixth member of the council after protesting wrestlers claimed the ministry did not consult them.
According to reports, the panel has met with protesting wrestlers, national instructors, and WFI officials on multiple occasions. In addition, the committee has approved the team for the second ranking series tournament in Egypt, which began on Thursday. In addition to skipping the ranking series in Zagreb, Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Vinesh Phogat, and Deepak Punia, as well as world championship medalist Vinesh Phogat, opted out of the tournament.
Asian wrestling moved out of Delhi
The United World Wrestling organisation has relocated the Asian Wrestling Championship from India. The conference will now take place in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The decision was made by UWW after consulting with the oversight committee. According to UWW, the environment in India is not suitable for hosting a tournament of this magnitude. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from March 28 to April 2 in New Delhi.
UWW said in a statement, “It will now take place in Astana, Kazakhstan between April 7 and 15, with definitive dates to be confirmed.”
Due to “recent developments in Indian wrestling and a pending investigation by the Indian sports ministry against the Wrestling Federation of India,” UWW stated that it was forced to alter the host of the continental championships.
