Star Indian wrestlers Geeta Phogat and Babita Phogat tweeted on Thursday (January 19) in support of their fellow wrestlers who are protesting at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and demanding the removal of its president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The former Commonwealth Games gold medalists Geeta and Babita came out in full support of the country’s ace wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik, who along with several others, are staging a protest.
2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Bajrang has accused WFI president Singh of abusing wrestlers and hitting them, whereas three-match Commonwealth Games gold medalist Vinesh accused the federation boss of sexually harassing female wrestlers.
Taking to Twitter to lend support to their cousin Vinesh, brother-in-law Bajrang, and several others, Geeta, who became the first Indian women wrestler to win a gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, tweeted, “The wrestlers of our country have done a very courageous work to bring out the truth about what happens to the players in WFI and it is the duty of all our countrymen to support the players in the fight for this truth and to get justice for them.”
And her young sister Babita too raised her voice by tweeting, “I stand with all my fellow players in this matter of wrestling. I assure all of you that I will work to raise this issue with the government at every level and the future will be decided according to the feelings of the players.”
Taking cognizance of the protest staged by wrestlers, the Sports Ministry sought an explanation from WFI on Wednesday and directed it to furnish a reply within the next 72 hours on the allegations made. In its communication to WFI, the Ministry stated that “since the matter pertains to the well-being of athletes, the Ministry has taken a very serious view of the matter.”
The Ministry has further stated that if WFI fails to furnish the reply within the next 72 hours, the Ministry will proceed to initiate action against the federation in terms of the provisions of the National Sports Development Code, 2011.
