Wrestlers wary of false promises

Tribune News Service

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, May 7

As the Sports Ministry formally opened talks with the nine-member committee formed by the protesting wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, the wrestlers’ representatives made it clear that they will not be persuaded by false assurances.

A two-member delegation of the Sports Ministry, led by Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) director general Sandip Pradhan, met the committee last night at Jantar Mantar, where the wrestlers have been sitting on a dharna for 15 days.

The committee, of coaches and former players, put forward two demands — the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and a ban on his family’s involvement in the running of WFI’s day-to-day affairs.

The government delegation said it could not give any assurances as it was not the final authority. The committee then insisted that any decision taken between the two parties will have to be in writing.

“We had decided that we will not take any false assurance from the government this time. So we insisted that any agreement to end the dharna has to be given to us in writing,” said a source who was involved in the deliberations.

The meeting lasted for over two hours, with many coaches also showing videos of alleged abuses suffered by them as well as the referees at the hands of Singh.

“It took this long as everybody had to say something to the officials. Some also showed videos of his rude behaviour,” another source said.

The delegation was also told that neither the wrestlers nor any of the committee members will visit any government office for further deliberations. “They requested us to come to Shastri Bhawan or the SAI office as they did not want the meeting to be held with the media around. We told them none of us will go anywhere. Whosoever wants to meet us, they will have to come to us,” the source added.

This was the second time a senior SAI official paid the wrestlers a visit. SAI deputy director general Shiv Sharma had tried to pacify the wrestlers on April 24 in the hope of ending the protest.

Ever since their return to Jantar Mantar on April 23, the wrestlers have been demanding WFI chief’s arrest. That demand, they said, is central if the government wants the protest to end. “We have decided we will not budge this time. This is do or die for us,” said a wrestler.

Not retiring: Vinesh

Vinesh Phogat has confirmed that none of the wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, has plans of retiring. Speaking with the media today, the two-time Olympian said they will take part in competitions. Vinesh and others have not competed in any national or international meet since the start of this year. After sitting on dharna for the first time, the trio has skipped four competitions. With their time mostly spent on dharna, the training has taken a back seat. Vinesh, however, insists they are not thinking of retiring just yet. “We will surely compete. We have been training as much as we can here. We will plan our training schedule better and see how much more time we will get to train but like I said we will compete soon,” she said.

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