NEW DELHI, May 30 (Reuters) – India’s prime wrestlers had been talked out of their plans to toss their medals into the river Ganges on Tuesday as a part of their ongoing demand to arrest their federation chief over sexual harassment allegations.

The athletes had been tenting in New Delhi since April 23 demanding motion in opposition to Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied allegations of sexually harassing feminine athletes.

Singh couldn’t be reached for touch upon Tuesday.

Several of the protesting wrestlers had been briefly detained by Delhi Police on Sunday and their camp web site was cleared after they tried to maneuver in direction of India’s new parliament constructing.

Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, and Asian Games champion Vinesh Phogat reached the north Indian city of Haridwar together with fellow wrestlers to dump their medals as a mark of protest.

A distinguished farmers’ chief, Naresh Tikait, satisfied them to name off the act promising an answer inside 5 days.

“Because of them, we hold our head high in international sports arena,” Tikait advised the media.

“We will make sure they won’t have to hang their head in shame.”

A member of parliament for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Singh has been stripped of his administrative powers.

Earlier on Tuesday, the wrestlers issued an announcement spelling out their plans to drown their medals within the river.

“For us, our medals are sacred, and so is the river Ganges,” they stated in an announcement in Hindi.

“This holy river is the perfect custodian of our medals, not the system that shields the offender.”

They additionally introduced plans to start an indefinite starvation strike on the India Gate struggle memorial in New Delhi.

Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Christian Radnedge

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