The biggest names in Indian wrestling have taken up arms against their own federation

The biggest wrestlers in India including the likes of Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Ravi Kumar are involved in a tussle with the Wrestling Federation of India over a series of issues ranging from sexual harassment to mishandling of funds.

The world of wrestling in India has been turned upside down after the latest developments. Shocking allegations ranging from sexual harassment and exploitation of power to mishandling of funds and rampant corruption have been levelled at the Wrestling Federation of India top brass, most notably, the president and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

To that end, over 30 wrestlers including Olympians Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and the only multiple time World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat had staged a protest at Delhi’s famous Jantar Mantar site on January 18 in order to communicate their grievances and ask for the removal of the WFI president.

But what are the primary points of contention that drove the wrestlers to take up arms against their own federation?

Allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation of female wrestlers

Wrestling fans in India were left stunned when Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat came out and said that the WFI president has sexually exploited and harassed several female wrestlers in national camps over the years.

"I can name more than 10 girls who were harnessed and molested during national camps. But nobody comes forward due to fear."

"One of the girls sitting here is also the victim of that. The coaches in national camps misbehave against women wrestlers and women coaches also. Despite us asking multiple times, the coaches were never removed," she told the media gathered to cover the protest.

"The coaches at national camps are the ones who also help Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the president himself has exploited so many girls."

Phogat has even claimed that she received threats to her life after she started talking about the mismanagement in WFI after Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Mishandling and misappropriation of funds

Another major concern surrounding the running of the WFI has been the mishandling of funds and the complete lack of accountability and transparency in that department.

"Tata Motors has been sponsoring us for the past 4 years but nobody knows where is the money going. I have trained on my own without getting any support from the federation. The new policy says private sponsors will come through WFI, but if the Tata Motors money never came to us, how can we trust them with the money from the private sponsors?" Bajrang Punia questioned.

While several elite wrestlers have their own individual sponsors like JSW and Baseline Ventures, a new policy of WFI has made it mandatory for these companies to reach the wrestlers through the federation.

Poor administration and mismanagement

“The job of the federation is to support the players, take care of their sporting needs. If there is a problem, it has to be solved. But what if the federation itself creates the problem? Now we have to fight, we will not back down,” tweeted Bajrang Punia.

For years, the common narrative has been that even with India producing some of the finest wrestlers in its entire history in the recent years, they haven’t been able to conquer the heights that were promised and any significant achievement has been possible only because of their individual efforts.

The Wrestling Federation of India has been alleged to be lacking in vision and is run without a direction.

"All the coaches who are appointed are also the favourites of the President. The quality coaches are denied opportunity."

"Our fight is not against the government or the Sports Authority of India (SAI). This is against WFI. 'Yeh ab aar paar ki ladai hai' (It's a fight to the finish). We will continue this protest until WFI President is removed," Bajrang added further.

As per latest developments, the Sports Ministry of India has asked for a reply from the federation within the next 72 hours. Failure to do so will result in the ministry taking matters into its own hands under the National Sports Code.

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