Wrestlers protest: Protesters write to IOA chief PT Usha, demand probe

Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat Bajrang Punia Sakshee Malikkh Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia on Friday wrote to PT Usha President of the Indian Olympic Association on sexual harassment complaints against Wrestling Federation India chairman Brij Bhushan Saran SinghIn a letter to the IOA president Usha the star grapplers accused the WFI chairman of sexual exploitation and financial irregularitiesThe letter signed by Bajrang Punia Phogat Malikkh Dahiya and Deepak Punias demands the resignation of the WFI chief and the formation of an inquiry committee on the allegations of sexual harassmentOn Thursday several ace wrestlers of the country including Phogat Mallikkh and Bajrang Punia participated in the sitin protest at Jantar Mantar in the national capital that began on WednesdayWrestlers have levelled charges of sexual harassment of women wrestlers by the WFI president and its coaches and of mismanagement in the functioning of the federation They demanded a complete overhaul of the federationIndian wrestler and Commonwealth Games medalist Vinesh Phogat on the first day of protest on Wednesday alleged that coaches who are favourites of the Wrestling Federation of India WFI misbehave with women and harass them She also accused the wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing girls and calling her a khota sikka after her defeat at Tokyo Olympics 2020Also Read Unhappy with govt assurance without action wrestlers vow to intensify protestOn the sidelines of a sitin protest against the WFI near Delhis Jantar Mantar Phogat on Wednesday said Coaches are harassing women and some coaches who are favourites of the Federation misbehave with women coaches as well They sexually harass girls The WFI president has sexually harassed many girlsHowever the WFI chief refuted the charges of sexual assault allegations made by the wrestlers against him on WednesdayDenying the claims by the wrestlers of their sexual assault Singh said I read that the name of the chief coach has also been taken in sexual assault allegations I also read that the reason for the players camp being held in Lucknow is so that they can be called at my home I do have a home in Lucknow but I hardly reside there My home is 120130 kms away from Lucknow All the sexual harassment allegations are false and I will commit suicide if they are found to be true I tried to get in touch with the wrestlers including Bajrang Punia but was unable to do soMeanwhile some wrestlers also had a late last night meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on the issue that stretched into the early hours of todayLater in the day under pressure to resign from his position over allegations of sexual exploitation of women wrestlers WFI chairman Singh said he will expose the political conspiracy on Friday afternoon in a press conferenceSingh who is also a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh in a Facebook post said that he will hold a press conference at the Wrestling Training Centre in Nawabganj in Gonda district of the stateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever