WFI chief Sanjay Singh has said that he would personally approach and invite disgruntled wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik to take part in the Olympic Qualifiers trials, slated to be held in Maharashtra, and has assured that they will not face any sort of discrimination.
Sanjay Singh, a Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh loyalist, was suspended by the sports ministry for flouting rules and regulations pertaining to the hosting of the national less than a week after he was elected as the wrestling federation’s head. But, UWW, the international governing body for the sport of wrestling lifted the ban imposed on Singh.
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi decided to hang up her boots following the election of Singh after a year-long protest against Brij Bhushan over allegations of sexual intimidation and harassment of women wrestlers.
“We have started planning to take Indian wrestling forward. We will soon organise trials for the Olympic Qualifying events in Maharashtra. The state has good infrastructure. I will ask Bajrang, Vinesh and Sakshi to forget everything and start preparing for trials and win medals for the country,” Singh said.
“I will send all three wrestlers emails, WhatsApp messages and, if need be, I will call them. I will even ask Sakshi to reconsider her decision to retire and give it one more shot to win an Olympic medal. They will not face any discrimination,” the WFI chief reiterated.
Singh also shed light on UWW’s decision following the WFI’s appeal to the world wrestling body to lift the ban.
“We told UWW that the suspension on WFI was imposed for not holding elections and now that the elections have been held, our status should be restored,” he said.
As it stands, India have locked the Paris Olympics quota in the women’s 53kg category through Antim Panghal while the opportunity to grab onto 17 more weight categories across men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling remains.
“We told them how the junior wrestlers are suffering and how India are going unrepresented in many weight categories at international events without a proper federation in place,” Singh added.
“They discussed the matter with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and with the UWW Board on February 9. They agreed with our viewpoint and lifted the temporary suspension. Now there should not be any confusion about who the wrestlers should approach,” the WFI chief said.
Earlier, the SAI centre in Sonepat was supposed to hold the men’s camp, while the Lucknow centre was supposed to host the women’s camps. However, the WFI chief suggested that it could be moved to a different location.
“We feel Maharashtra has good infrastructure for men’s national camp. Let’s see if we can move it there. We will discuss it with the government,” Singh said.
“The SAI centres are under the government, so we need their permission if the camps have to held at SAI centres. If we do not get permission then other arrangements have to be made,” he added.
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