This includes suspending the current ranking competition and refunding entry fees charged to participants for any ongoing activity.
Wrestlers Protest: As It Happened
This announcement follows a January 20, 2023 decision by the government to appoint an oversight committee that will take over the day-to-day operations of WFI.
The decision came shortly after Deputy Secretary, WFI, Vinod Tomarhas been suspended with immediate effect.
The suspended WFI official denied any communication regarding his suspension, saying the news came to him via ANI when the news agency contacted him for a reaction to the announcement.
“I was not aware. I only learned through a call from ANI that I had been suspended. I did not receive any prior information about it. I did nothing wrong”, Tomar told ANI on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, Tomar called the charges against federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh “baseless”. Speaking to ANI, Tomar said the wrestlers, who were sitting in a dharna in Delhi Jantar Mantar and allegations of sexual harassment and financial impropriety against the WFI President, produced no evidence to support their allegations.
“The allegations are baseless. It’s been 3-4 days (since the wrestlers sat down to protest) and they still haven’t produced any evidence. I’ve been associated with them for 12 years and have never met such an incident or allegation,” Tomar told ANI.
“The Government of India is committed to ensuring the smooth running of the WFI, and the oversight committee will help ensure that all complaints against the executive committee of the federation are investigated and that the federation is managed in an efficient and transparent manner in the best interests of sportspeople,” a statement from the Union government said on Saturday.
