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Wrestler Vinesh Phogat said that the victory of wrestlers over the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) would empower women worldwide to speak up. The Sports Ministry suspended the newly installed team of WFI, headed by Sanjay Singh, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's associate on December 24.
The move occurred just three days after Sanjay assumed the role of WFI chief, replacing Brij Bhushan. The Ministry stated that the appointment process for the new WFI president was rushed, lacking a proper and systematic procedure.
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"The newly elected body appears to be in complete control of former office bearers in complete disregard to the Sports Code," the ministry said.
Vinesh expressed a hope that the upcoming generation of wrestlers wouldn't have to face the challenges they experienced during Brij Bhushan's tenure as the WFI chief.
"Had we accepted defeat, women across the world, be it wrestling or any field, would struggle to raise their voices. WFI should have people who should be good for wrestlers, especially women; we are saying this from the beginning. I hope the things we have tolerated, others don't have to. That's our fight. The ones who have done well should be punished," Phogat was quoted as saying in an interview with Aaj Tak.
"We can't thank enough to Bajrang Punia, who has been with us through all this time. This decision (suspension of WFI) gives us a ray of hope. A good person should become the chief, we would like to see a woman president. We have suffered a lot, if a woman president comes we would feel we have succeeded. We will keep fighting in Court to see Brij Bhushan getting punished," she said.
When Sanjay replaced Brij Bhushan, Olympic medalist Sakshi became emotional, shedding tears, and even contemplated quitting wrestling. Alongside Vinesh and Bajrang Punia, she initiated the protest against Singh, accusing him of sexually harassing wrestlers.
Sakshi and other wrestlers who opposed Singh supported Anita Sheoran's candidacy for the role of WFI president. Anita aimed to become the first female president of the national wrestling body but lost the elections, receiving only 7 votes out of 47.
"We have made demands for a woman president. If the president would be a woman, harassment would not happen. But, there was no participation of women earlier and today you can see the list, not even a single woman was given a position. We had fought with complete strength but this fight will continue. The wrestlers of the new generation have to fight," Sakshi said.
(Powered by AI, Inputs by India Today)
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