New Delhi: Two months after being rocked by a sexual harassment scandal, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) seems on the brink of yet another storm. The organisation has announced two new events, both of which will take place in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda, the stronghold of the man at the centre of the January row — its former chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The WFI Thursday announced two new events — the U-17 National Championships and Senior Open National Ranking Wrestling Tournament — via its Twitter handle. The events are scheduled to be held on 16 and 18 April this year.
But what has stirred up a hornet’s nest is that the event will be held on the grounds of Nandini Nagar Mahavidyalaya, the college that Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh helped found.
Speaking to ThePrint, WFI general secretary V.N. Prasood said the events were being held since an oversight committee appointed to look into the allegations had submitted its report. The contents of the report are yet to be made public.
“See, during the investigation, we had stopped all activities. Now we are completing the tournaments as well as the U-17 Nationals,” he said. However, he did not respond to questions on the choice of venue.
According to the schedule, women’s wrestling will also be held as part of the Senior Open National Ranking Wrestling Tournament.
U-17 (Cadet) National Wrestling Championship, Gonda (UP)#wrestling #WFI pic.twitter.com/fxFsnMA9bl
— Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) (@wfi_wrestling) April 6, 2023
Senior Open National Ranking Wrestling Tournament, Gonda (UP)#wrestling #WFI pic.twitter.com/4Ur4g35C5t
— Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) (@wfi_wrestling) April 6, 2023
Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, who specialises in sports law, said to ThePrint, “After the oversight committee submitted its probe report, why was the report not made public? The decision to have Gonda as venue is a questionable one. Irrespective of the report’s outcome, sports authorities should refrain from using a place that is Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s stronghold. After all, he has serious allegations of sexual harassment against him.”
Born in Gonda, Sharan was elected twice to the Lok Sabha from the constituency — first in 1991 and then 1999. It was also in Gonda that he held his press conferences in response to the wrestlers’ protests in Jantar Mantar.
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The row
In January, Singh, a six-time BJP MP, was accused of sexually harassing several women athletes. After days of protests at Jantar Mantar, which included several leading names in wrestling such as Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, Singh stepped down as WFI chief.
At the same time, the central government announced it had stopped all events of the WFI, suspended Vinod Tomar, the assistant secretary of the federation, and set up an oversight committee chaired by boxer Mary Kom. The committee was tasked with not only overseeing day-to-day functioning of the federation but also probing the allegations.
Although it initially asked for the report to be submitted by 23 February — a month after it was set up — the deadline was extended by two weeks to 9 March.
WFI’s Prasood told ThePrint that the report had been submitted, though it overshot its deadline.
“The oversight committee has submitted the report to the government and handed the bills for legal costs they incurred in their activities to the WFI. That means their role in running day-to-day activities of the WFI is over.”
Meanwhile, wrestlers whose sit-in protests forced Singh to step aside, demand that the event be moved out of Gonda.
Tokyo Olympic Bronze medalist Punia, said: “How can WFI conduct events at Gonda? At least they should wait until the details of the reports come out in the public. He has organised many wrestling competitions in Gonda in the past”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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