Wrestlers fight on with action

There seems to be no end to controversies surrounding the Indian wrestling as Olympic medallist grappler Bajrang Punia on Friday decided to return his Padma Shri award in protest against the election of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh loyalist Sanjay Singh as the president of Wrestling Federation of India WFIOn Thursday Sanjay Singh was elected as the president of the WFI after the panel led by the close aide of Brij Bhushan won 13 of the 15 posts The wrestlers had demanded that no close associate of Brij Bhushan should enter the WFI ldquoI am returning my Padma Shri award to the Prime Minister This is just my letter This is my statementrdquo Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist wrestler wrote on X formerly TwitterSakshi MalikSakshi Malik Bajrang and Vinesh Phogat had addressed a press conference after Sanjayrsquos election in which Sakshi a bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics announced that she would quit the sport as a mark of protest Bajrang was conferred with the Padma Shri the fourth highest civilian honour in the country in 2019 after a consistent run on the mat that saw him win laurels at top international eventsAlso ReadRSB Arya Vidya Mandir girls retain U14 DivI football titleBajrang appeals to PMBajrang also posted a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi citing the denial of justice to the countryrsquos female wrestlers He posted the letter on X after making an attempt to meet the Prime Minister in Parliament and personally hand over his letter but was stopped at Kartavya Path by the Delhi PoliceThe 29yearold world championship medallist wrote ldquoDear PM Ji hope your health is well You must be busy in many works but I am writing this to draw your attention to the wrestlers of the countrylsquoI joined the protestrsquoldquoYou must be aware that the women wrestlers of the country started a protest in January this year against Brij Bhushan Singh accusing him of sexual harassment I too joined their protest The protest stopped after the government promised strong actionrdquo Expressing his disappointment the star wrestler added ldquoBut there was no FIR against Brij Bhushan even after three months We again took to the streets in April so that the police at least file an FIR against him There were 19 complainants in January but the number came down to 7 by April This means Brij Bhushan exerted his influence on 12 women wrestlers No I donrsquot have any permission If you can please forward this letter to the PM because I canrsquot go inside I am not protesting nor being aggressiverdquo Bajrang said while being stopped by Delhi Police officialslsquoWe will persuade Bajrang to reverse his decisionrsquoThe Sports Ministry on Friday said Bajrang Puniarsquos decision to return his Padma Shri award in protest against Sanjay Singhrsquos election as Wrestling Federation of India president is a personal one but it will still try to convince him to rethink the moveBut ministry sources said the WFI elections were conducted in a free and transparent manner ldquoIt is Bajrang Puniarsquos personal decision to return Padma Shri The WFI elections were held in fair and democratic mannerrdquo a ministry official told PTIldquoWe will still try to persuade Bajrang to reverse his decision to return Padma Shrirdquo he added Bajrang on Friday tried to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hand over a protest letterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever