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- Published: January 20, 2023 11:20
New Delhi: Under pressure to resign from his position over allegations of sexual exploitation of women wrestlers, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has said he will “expose” the “political conspiracy” on Friday afternoon in a press conference.
Singh, who is also a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh in a post on his Facebook said that he will hold a press conference at the Wrestling Training Centre in Nawabganj in Gonda district of the state.
The press conference is scheduled to be held this evening. Earlier Singh said that the presser would be held at noon before changing the time to after 4 pm today.
The development comes hours after some wrestlers had a late-night meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday. Thakur who arrived at his Delhi residence late last evening from Chandigarh met with the wrestlers and the meeting stretched into the early hours of today. According to sources it ended on an undecisive note.
Delhi | Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya and other wrestlers leave from the residence of Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur
They met the minister in connection with their protest and allegations against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) pic.twitter.com/e4L3CYW38x
— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2023
Grapplers Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya among others were seen leaving Thakur’s residence at around 3 am today. According to sources, Thakur is likely to meet with wrestlers in the national capital again this morning.
The Union Sports Ministry has also given a deadline to the WFI to respond within 72 hours to the allegations made by the wrestlers. The Ministry stated that if the WFI fails to furnish the reply within the next 72 hours, it will proceed to initiate action against the federation in terms of the provisions of the National Sports Development Code, 2011. The deadline expires on Saturday.
Delhi | Babita Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and other wrestlers arrive at the residence of Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur in connection with their protest and allegations against WFI. pic.twitter.com/dx1dQObyk9
— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2023
#WATCH | Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur arrives at his residence in Delhi, from Chandigarh. He will meet the wrestlers who are protesting against WFI. pic.twitter.com/WIX44Nmm49
— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2023
On Thursday several ace wrestlers of the country including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Mallikkh and Bajrang Punia participated in the sit in protest at Jantar Mantar in the national capital, that begun on Wednesday.
Wrestlers 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 federation.
“We want a complete overhaul of the Wrestling Federation. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) should be dissolved and restructured. There are people in the state wrestling associations too that have linkups with the WFI President. We also want the state associations to be restructured,” Bajrang Punia said yesterday.
The protesting wrestlers have demanded the resignation of the WFI chairman and action to be taken against him.
