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Amid row over Asian Games' selection, top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia to hold presser today
The Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) ad-hoc committee earlier exempted Punia and Phogat from selection trials and allowed them directly for the Asian Games.
India's top wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia announced that they will hold a press conference today (August 10) at Delhi's Raj Ghat.
"Hello everyone Tomorrow at 12:30 pm we are holding a press conference at Raj Ghat in Delhi. Jai Hind," all three grapplers wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in Hindi.
The current announcement comes few days ahead of the Wrestlers' Federation of India (WFI) elections, where the outgoing president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is accused of attempting to control the federation through proxies. As many as 18 of his supporters filed nominations for the election. Singh is facing six counts of alleged sexual harassment charges by female wrestlers who is ‘liable to be prosecuted and punished for offences’ of stalking and molestation, according to Delhi Police chargesheet.
Last month, the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) ad-hoc committee exempted Punia and Phogat from selection trials and allowed them directly for the Asian Games 2023 which will be held in China's Hangzhou. After the decision, both of them received a lot of criticism from other wrestlers including a 19-year-old grappler and U20 world champion Antim Panghal challenged in the court that Vinesh's ‘unfair’ exemption into the game was dismissed. Earlier, both Antim and another wrestler and U23 Asian champion Sujeet Kalkal's petitions against the decision was dismissed by Delhi high court.
“I won the trial fair and square. Why should I be the standby player? I won the trial. The one who did not compete should be a standby player in 53kg. My petition has been dismissed but I won't stop,” Antim told reporters earlier. Later in a video message, she raised questions on Punia and Phogat's direct entry to the Asian Games 2023 in their respective categories.
Notably, Sakshi Malik also criticised the ad-hod committee's decision and said she was also offered a direct entry but refused to forward her name in the list.
Later, both Punia and Phogat addressed Antim's accusation during a joint live session on Facebook and said, "We are not against the trials. I am not blaming Antim. She is too young to understand. She is right in her place. She is fighting for her right and we are fighting for our right. But we are not wrong."
