NEW DELHI: Showing exemplary gratitude to the Centre whose support pitchforked her into the position of president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), athletics great PT Usha on Thursday accused the wrestlers who were protesting on the streets of “tarnishing the country’s image”.
Decorated wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik are the three central characters in the renewed protests against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation by the grapplers.
Reacting to Usha’s remarks, Bajrang Punia told PTI: “We did not expect such a harsh response from IOA President PT Usha, we expected support from her.”
“Wrestlers staging protest on streets amounts to indiscipline. It is tarnishing the image of India,” Usha told reporters after IOA’s executive committee meeting here Thursday.
Usha’s “harsh response” (which comes as no surprise) notwithstanding, the IOA has instituted a three-member adhoc panel that includes former shooter Suma Shirur, Wushu Association of India chief Bhupendra Singh Bajwa, which is to be headed by an as yet-to-be-named retired high court judge, to run the affairs of the WFI until a new body is elected.
The IOA and the government had managed to placate the wrestlers with assurances to probe their allegations against Sharan and the WFI after the protest first broke out in January.
