Will Participate In Asian Games Only When Issues Are Resolved: Protesting Wrestlers

Sakshi Malik on Saturday asserted that wrestlers will participate in Asian Games only after all the issues they are facing are solved.

"We will participate in Asian Games only when all these issues will be resolved," ANI quoted Sakshi Malik.

"You can't understand what we're going through mentally each day", she added.

"We have told the government that if action is not taken by June 15, then we will give a bigger call for protest and take a decision," said star wrestler Bajrang Punia.

On Wednesday, the protesting wrestlers met Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and agreed to suspend their agitation till June 15 after he assured them that a chargesheet against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will be filed by then and the WFI elections will be held by the end of the month.

The top wrestlers of the country, including Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat and Olympic medallists Sakshee Malikkh and Bajrang Punia, have been protesting against Singh and demanding his arrest for allegedly sexually harassing female grapplers, including a minor.

In a recent development, the minor wrestler's father, who had filed an FIR against Bhushan for sexually harassing his daughter has denied allegations against Brij Bhushan, saying that the plaint against the outgoing chief was 'deliberate'.

Reportedly, a woman wrestler was taken to the residence of the WFI president by the Delhi police "to recreate the scene and recall the places where she faced harassment".

"At 1.30 pm women officers took the woman wrestler to Brij Bhushan's official residence in Delhi. They were there for half an hour. They asked her to recreate the scene and recall the places where she faced harassment," PTI reported.