Sanjay Singh, the newly elected president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Sunday said that a delegation of the wrestling body will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur seeking revocation of its suspension.
“We will speak to the Central govt, we will speak to PM Modi and Sports Minister. The future of children is getting ruined,” Singh told news agency ANI.
His remarks came in response to the Union Sports Ministry’s decision to suspend the newly formed Wrestling Federation of India body over “hasty” announcements without following the due procedure.
The WFI president had announced U-15 and U-20 nationals will be held in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh by the end of this year.
“Such decisions are to be taken by Executive Committee, before which agendas are required to be placed for consideration. As per Article XI of the WFI constitution under the Heading ‘Notices and Quorum for Meetings’, minimum notice period for EC meeting is 15 clear days and quorum is of 1/3rd of representatives. Even for Emergency EC meeting, minimum notice period is 7 clear days with quorum requirement of 1/3rd of representatives,” Sports Ministry said in its suspension order.
Singh, however, claimed that no rule has been broken in the announcement of the nationals and explained the decision was taken to make up for the lost time.
According to reports, he also said that they could also explore legal options if the issues is not resolved through dialogue with the government.
Sanjay Singh is a close associate of former WFI chief and BJP MP Brijbushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually assaulting women wrestlers.
After Singh’s victory in WFI president election, the powerful BJP leader had apparently mocked wrestlers who accused him of sexual assault and boasted his “dominance will remain for that has been given to him by the god.”
Ace wrestler and Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik had quit the wrestling while Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri award in protest against Sanjay Singh’s election.