According to Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Bajrang Punia, if the government doesn’t follow through on its promise to ensure a change in leadership at the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), there won’t be any cleanup and female wrestlers won’t feel secure.
“Those close to Brij Bhushan are in the fray for the elections. Sanjay Kumar Singh is contesting for the post of WFI president. If Sanjay Kumar wins, it is equal to Brij Bhushan winning the elections. The government had promised us that those close to Brij Bhushan and his family members won’t contest. But that doesn’t seem to be the case now.”
The government must fulfil its promise, otherwise women wrestlers won’t be safe. How long will women wrestlers live in fear?” Bajrang Punia told The Indian Express.
The vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association is Sanjay Kumar.
In order to try and suppress the female wrestlers who want to come out against him but are afraid to do so, Brij Bhushan wants to retain control through his loyal advisors.
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Bajrang Punia cuts training short
Anita Sheoran, a gold medalist from the 2010 Commonwealth Games, is the other candidate in the campaign for the presidency. Anita, a witness and corroborator in the case against Brij Bhushan, has the support of Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, two more well-known wrestlers who took part in the protest.
It was thought that a unanimous candidate would be nominated in each category, negating the need for polling, after the government assured the wrestlers that they would have a vote in who holds important roles in the new WFI executive committee.
However, at least 20 of the 25 state units have endorsed the candidates Brij Bhushan picked for the 15 positions.
Bajrang Punia claimed that after learning that Brij Bhushan would not back down from fielding candidates of his choosing for the elections, he cut short his training programme in Kyrgyzstan and returned to India.
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