Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha on Wednesday met with wrestlers who’ve been sitting on a protest demanding the elimination of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who’s going through allegations of sexual harassment. The former athlete arrived at Jantar Mantar within the nationwide capital the place high grapplers have been staging a protest for the final 11 days.

She was seen conversing with wrestlers Sakshee Malikkh, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia on the web site. Previously, Usha had on April 27 mentioned that the wrestlers ought to have approached the IOA as a substitute of going out within the streets in opposition to the WFI and its president, whom the wrestlers accused of sexual harassment and mismanagement of athletes.

“Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is having a committee for sexual harassment, instead of going to the streets they (protesting wrestlers) could have come to us earlier but they did not come to IOA. It is not good for sports not only for wrestlers, they should also have some discipline,” the IOA president had informed mediapersons earlier. Wrestlers had expressed their disappointment at her remarks.

“Being a woman athlete, she (PT Usha) is not listening to other women athletes. We have followed her since childhood and got inspired by her. Where is indiscipline here, we are sitting here peacefully,” Sakshee Malikkh informed mediapersons. Vinesh Phogat, a CWG and World Championships medalist additionally termed Usha’s feedback as “insensitive”.

“We live as per the constitution and are independent citizens. We can go anywhere. If we are sitting out in the streets, there must be some reason, a reason that nobody listened to us, be it IOA or Sports Ministry. Her saying this is insensitive. I even called her, but she did not pick up my phone,” mentioned Vinesh. Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia mentioned, “You feel sad when she says these things because she is the IOA Chief and a woman herself, she cried for her academy in front of the media. She wants us to approach IOA, but we went there three months back, but no justice was given.”

Three months in the past outstanding wrestlers got here ahead to guide a protest in opposition to WFI Chief, the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports introduced the formation of an ‘oversight committee’ to probe allegations levelled in opposition to the WFI and its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and different coaches. The committee was tasked with submitting a report on the difficulty to the ministry. The wrestlers launched a recent protest in April.

On April 30, Delhi Police registered two FIRs in opposition to WFI president Singh over allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation of feminine wrestlers by him. Top Indian grapplers comparable to Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and plenty of different wrestlers are concerned within the protest in opposition to the WFI chief. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)