Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia said that it is more crucial for the female wrestlers to get justice than to compete in the Asian Games as the protest of the nation's finest grapplers at Jantar Mantar entered its second week.
It's not as if we don't want to go the Asian Games; we want to compete. However, in my opinion, obtaining justice for the daughters of this nation is far more significant than receiving an Asian medal, Bajrang said.
September of this year is the date of the Asian Games, and under normal conditions, this period of time would have been excellent for the grapplers to devote to training.
Bajrang and Vinesh Phogat, who had previously received approval from the sports ministry for an overseas training camp in preparation for the Asiad, said that they will forego the trip due to the present circumstances.
The WFI president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, is accused of sexual harassment, and Bajrang went on to say that he wasn't happy with certain media outlets siding with him. He said that some were attempting to portray the protest from a different perspective.
“Look at his criminal history; there are no doubts about it. Questions are raised when the nation awards us medals, he continued.
Few people are attempting to politicize this protest by taking it in a different direction.
In response to claims that the wrestlers were staging the protest in order to seize control of the organization, Bajrang also fired back.
Brijbhushan has been expressing how we are waging this battle from this position because we want to seize control of the federation. You must have a position in a state wrestling federation if you wish to hold the office of federation president or any other position within it, according to Bajrang.
Brij Bhushan had previously said that he was acting as president until a successor could be chosen in the corresponding elections.
Although he has repeatedly stated that he won't run for office again or return, the fact that he has served for 12 years means he is ineligible.
The 26-year-old grappler also provided some insight into Brij Bhushan's attempts to sway the federation via family members.
Karan Bhushan Sharan Singh, the son of Brij Bhushan, has held the positions of senior vice president of the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association and vice president of the WFI.
In UP and Bihar, wrestling has been governed by his family. He claims that we are involved in “pariwaarvad,” but it is really him.
