Elite wrestlers allege sexual harassment, protest in Delhi against WFI high-handedness

India’s top wrestlers, including Olympic Games medal winners, raised their voices against the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

During the protest today (January 18) at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which is at a stone's throw distance from the WFI office, the country’s elite women wrestlers also alleged that several female wrestlers have suffered sexual harassment at the hands of WFI officials during the national camps.

“Female wrestlers have been sexually harassed during national camps by coaching staff. Some of the coaches deputed to oversee national coaching camps have been harassing female wrestlers in the camp for long,” two-time Olympian and world medalist Vinesh Phogat alleged during a press conference.

Olympic bronze medalist Bajrang Punia and Olympian Sonam Malik from Haryana were among others to protest against the WFI.

Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of the WFI, denied the allegations of sexual harassment.

“We don’t know about the allegations against the officials of the WFI as there hasn’t been no written complaint with the federation,” Tomar said.

An issue of protest by elite wrestlers could also be mandatory national selection trials for international competitions, one WFI official told Sportskeeda.

“Some of the elite wrestlers don’t want to attend the national selection trials for Asian or world championships, but want direct selection in the national team based on their past performance,” the WFI official said on condition of anonymity. “There is a policy for selecting national squads for international meets and the WFI follows that.”

The protest comes ahead of the February 1 to 5 World Ranking Series in Croatia. The season’s first Ranking Series in Zagreb will be conducted in the Freestyle and Greco Roman event.

“The protest by elite wrestlers will certainly show the Indian federation in a poor light at the world level,” one of the senior wrestling coach told Sportskeeda. “There no smoke without a fire. If an elite female wrestler like Vinesh Phogat has leveled allegations against the coaching staff and officials of the WFI, there must be some truth.”

The protesting wrestlers even plan to approach the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Home Minister if the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) isn't able to sort out issues in the coming days.