Protest against Asian Games trials exemption reaches IOA door, apex body promises support

Several junior wrestlers and their families, demanding fair Asian Games trials, carried their protest to the doors of IOA on Thursday and vowed not to leave the headquarters of the apex sports body till exemption given to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat is withdrawn. The inexplicable delay by the IOA ad-hoc panel in announcing the selection criteria and the subsequent exemption granted to Bajrang and Vinesh had infuriated the wrestling fraternity which termed the decision as unjust and unfair.

Wrestlers from training centres in Rohtak (Chhotu Ram Akhada), Narela (Virender Singh's centre), Hisar (Baba Lal Das Akhada) Delhi (Hanuman Akhada and Chhatrasal Satdium), along many senior citizens, including women, belonging to the junior wrestlers gathered at the Olympic Bhawan. Around 100 people gathered outside the Olympic Bhawan and urged IOA Secretary General Kalyan Chaubey to ensure fair trial.

The IOA official after a round of meeting with his colleagues met the protesters and assured them support.

"I am here, my wife is here and even Antim's grandmother is here. Yogeshwar is also supporting us. We have met Kalyan Chaubey and made it clear that no exemption should be given to anyone. We will not leave this place until exemption is withdrawn," Ram Niwas, Panghal's father, told PTI.

"Chaubey told us that now the matter is in the court, they can't interfere. He said 'we are not in a position to make a decision. If the court does not decide in your favour, then IOA will hold a meeting and try to help you'," Niwas added. The day (July 13) 24 women wrestlers from Rohtak reached out to IOA, Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI) and even appealed to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister for fair trials, it was clear that the immense support Vinesh and Bajrang had enjoyed during their Jantar Mantar protest, was eroding quickly.

Taking it forward, the wresters staged a sit-in in Haryana's Hisar on Wednesday and now they have carried their protest to the Olympic Bhawan in New Delhi with London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt also reaching the new protest site. The reigning U20 World Champion Antim Panghal and U23 Asian Champion Sujeet took lead in demanding fair trials and even knocked the doors of the judiciary to get justice.

With the exemption move snowballing into a huge controversy, Sakshi Malik, one of the six protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar, said that she was never in favour of trial exemptions and the government has actually tried to divide them by unilaterally making the decision.

"The government has attempted to break the unity of the wrestlers by sending direct entries (in two categories). I have never competed without appearing in trials and I do not support it," she tweeted.

"I am a bit rattled. We had just asked to push the trials date but now the government has put infamy in our laps," she said.

Later, in a video message on twitter she said, the government had offered her exemption but she refused.

"I had got a call from the government side that we are giving direct entries to two (Bajrang and Vinesh) for Asian Games and if you want then you also write an email, we will do' but I refused." Since Sakshi is in the USA, it is highly unlikely that she would be able to return to country by Friday and compete in the trials on July 22 when Indian women's team will be selected along with Greco Roman squad.

Men's free style team will be selected on July 23. In a tweet, World Championships and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Anshu Malik, who was part of the wrestlers' protest at Jantar Mantar in January, expressed her support for the junior grapplers.

"An athlete's biggest dream is to win medals at events such as the Olympics and the Asian Games and make all the countrymen proud but what if the rights of those players are snatched," Anshu, who competes in the women's 57kg category, tweeted.

"The demand for trials by junior players is correct and it is their right. I support the demand by the junior players," she wrote in another tweet. A Delhi court on Thursday granted regular bail to outgoing WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a case of sexual harassment of women wrestlers. The court also allowed the bail application of suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar.

"I am granting bail on a bond of Rs 25,000 each with certain conditions," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjeet Singh Jaspal said. The metropolitan court directed the accused not to leave the country without its prior permission and not offer any inducement to witnesses in the case.

The Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet against the six-time MP on June 15 under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).