Top wrestlers allege harassment by wrestling federation chief

India’s top wrestlers, including two Olympic medallists, rebelled against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Wednesday, accusing its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of running the body in a “dictatorial” manner, and alleging “sexual exploitation and mental harassment” at national camps.

In an unprecedented sit-in at the Capital’s Jantar Mantar area, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, and two-time world championships medallist Vinesh Phogat led a group of around 30 wrestlers. In a media conference at the venue, they demanded the immediate removal of Singh to “save wrestling from his clutches”. Wrestling is India’s most successful individual Olympic sport with seven medals, including two at Tokyo in 2021.

The protesting wrestlers alleged that Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BP) MP from Kaiserganj, Uttar Pradesh, in his third term as federation president (his tenure ends this year), has been running the body as his fiefdom. They also accused him of “sexual harassment” and using “abusive language” against wrestlers.

The wresters -- the group included young stars Anshu Malik, the 2021 world championships silver medallist, and Tokyo Olympian Sonam Malik -- said they will take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

Speaking to reporters hours later, Singh denied the accusations of sexual harassment, and alleged the revolt was part of a “conspiracy” to unseat him.

Vinesh said during the sit-in that she was “mentally tortured” after the Tokyo Olympics, where she lost in the quarterfinals. She alleged that she received death threats from people in the federation because she had complained about the conditions in the sport to the Prime Minister during a meeting.

“The WFI president is a very powerful man and wrestlers are scared to talk against him. Now we have gathered courage because the situation is going out of hand,” said Vinesh.

She also alleged that “girls are sexually exploited” at the women’s national camp in Lucknow.

“Coaches are sexually harassing girls and ill-treat women coaches in the camp. I am not saying this about all the coaches but a few of them who are close to the federation chief. I complained against the chief coach Jitender Yadav but despite that he has not been removed. WFI president has sexually exploited girls,” Vinesh said.

“I can take names of 10 to 20 girls that I have seen in 10 years in national camp who have told me their stories, sobbing. Such things have happened regularly but they are scared to come out in the open. They cannot fight such a battle with a man of power and position. There are a few girls sitting here who have faced similar incidents,” she added.

Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik backed Vinesh’s allegations. “Why do you think the women’s camp is held in Lucknow? It is the home of WFI president and he can use it for exploitation,” said Malik. “We are fighting for our future generations. Just two-three years of our career is left but we don’t want the new generation to suffer.”

Tokyo medallist Punia said that the wrestlers will not take part in any competition and attend national camps as long as Singh remains president. “Wrestlers of the entire country are with us on the issue. It’s not that we are only 20-30 people that you see here. We are the face and we have taken this brave step. We are not going to fight any competition until he (Singh) quits,” he said.

“During a recent national meet in Ranchi, he (Singh) abused a wrestler from Haryana in such bad language that I cannot reveal here. I have a video,” he said, adding that no foreign coach wants to come to India because of the bad reputation. “We do not have quality coaches in India but WFI does not want to get any foreign coach. After winning bronze in Tokyo, I was in pain for six months but they did not give me any physio. I did my own rehab.”

Singh, on his part, hit back while talking to reporters at the WFI headquarters in the Capital later in the day.

“The allegations of any kind of harassment are baseless. Top wrestlers want to dictate terms and want the WFI to bend its ways as per their whims and fancies,” he said.

“Why should I quit? Even if one woman wrestler comes and proves the sexual harassment charge, I am ready to be hanged,” Singh added. “There can be an investigation by CBI or police. There is no dictatorship. These same wrestlers had met me a week back and did not say anything.”

The head of the federation for since 2012, Singh said that the protest was being held at the behest of an industrialist who wanted to start a new federation in Haryana.

“One complaint has also been filed against me earlier as well that I have not given permission for the constitution of the Haryana Wrestling Federation. I also think that an industrialist is behind all this,” Singh said, without taking any names.

Sports Ministry seek explanation from WFI

Earlier, Vinesh broke down while talking about her ordeal after the Tokyo Olympics, saying she was mentally tortured by Singh to a point where she thought of committing suicide. A medal prospect at Tokyo, she lost early and was later involved in a long-drawn out row with WFI, which suspended her for indiscipline before rescinding the charge.

“After the Tokyo Olympics, I was being banned for two years for indiscipline (for not wearing the official singlet) when I was not at fault. The singlet I wore had Vinesh written on it with the India name and flag. Our kit is of such low quality that we are not comfortable wearing it, leave alone fighting on the mat and that’s why I was wearing a different singlet,” Vinesh said.

“But I had to go through mental torture. I was not sure whether that person (Singh) will allow me to live after Tokyo . He called me khota sikka (useless coin). I even received death threat given by people who are close to him. When the time comes, I will take their names,” said the 28-year-old who revived her career by winning gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and won a second world championships bronze last year.

The comments by the wrestlers led to the Union sports ministry, saying it has demanded an explanation from WFI within 72 hours. “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,” the ministry said in a statement said.

The ministry also announced that the women’s national camp, due to start at Lucknow’s Sports Authority of India centre in Lucknow from January 18 with 41 wrestlers and 13 coaches and support staff, stands cancelled.

The wrestlers got support from sportspeople from other disciplines as well.

Abhinav Bindra, India’s first individual Olympics gold medallist , said on Twitter, in an apparent reference to the wrestlers’ protest: “We, as a nation, have the responsibility to safeguard each and every athlete representing our flag. We owe it to each and everyone to see that they are mentally and physically safe on and off the field.”

(With inputs from Sharad Deep)

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