Brij Bhushan claims conspiracy failed as Wrestling Federation's suspension is revoked: 'Players have suffered'

Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has said that the struggle of the sporting body has come to an end with the Sports Ministry revoking its ban on Tuesday . The WFI has been under suspension since 24 December 2023, two days after Brij Bhushan’s aide, Sanjay Singh, was elected as president.

‘Intentions of conspirators were not fulfilled’: Brij Bhushan

Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several female wrestlers, on Tuesday said WFI’s suspension has impacted all the wrestlers and juniors and that the “conspirators” failed in achieving their goal.

“This struggle lasted for about 26 months and today the Wrestling Federation has been reinstated by the government. Therefore, we want to thank the government and the Sports Minister. If anyone has suffered due to this, it is the players and junior players… The conspirators who were involved in this, their intentions were not fulfilled. We will only say that the federation should conduct all the wrestling tournaments that used to happen earlier…,” he told ANI.

Starting from 2023, Several ace wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia spearheaded protests against WFI and its former president Brij Bhushan Singh, alleging him of sexual assault.

In August 2023, United World Wrestling (UWW) put a ban on WFI as it failed to organise elections within a stipulated time following accusations of sexual harassment and protests against ex-president Brij Bhushan Singh by top wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik. An ad hoc committee by the International Olympic Association (IOA) was put in place.

In late December 2023, elections were held and Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of WFI. However, the wrestlers protested against his election, saying he was an aide of ex-president Brij Bhushan. Days after the elections, the Ministry suspended the federation again, a decision that came after Sanjay had announced the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals at Nandini Nagar in the Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh by the end of the year. An ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was put in place once again to handle the day-to-day affairs of the federation.

The ad-hoc committee was dissolved in March 2024 after IOA said that there was no need for the body following the lifting of the ban on the federation by United World Wrestling (UWW) and the successful completion of selection trials for future competitions. UWW lifted the ban on WFI in February last year with immediate effect.

With agency inputs