‘Wrestlers Protest Tarnishes India’s Image’ IOA President PT Usha Says the Act Amounts to ‘Indiscipline’

New Delhi, Apr 27: Coming down heavily on the aggrieved wrestlers, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha on Thursday said the grapplers protesting on the streets amounts to indiscipline and is tarnishing the country's image. Decorated wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi malik are the three central characters in the renewed protests against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation by the grapplers. Wrestlers Protest News: Grappler Makes Shocking Revelation, Says ‘Babita Phogat Forced Us to Sit on Dharna and Then Backstabbed’.

"Wrestlers staging protest on streets amounts to indiscipline. It is tarnishing the image of India," Usha told reporters after IOA's Executive Committee meeting. The IOA also instituted a three-member adhoc panel, including former shooter Suma Shirur, Wushu Association of India chief Bhupendra Singh Bajwa and headed by a yet-to-be-named retired high court judge, to run the affairs of the WFI until a new body is elected. Wrestlers Protest News: Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh Isn't Hiding, He Will Expose Protesters' Lies Soon, Says WFI Official.

The IOA and the government had managed to placate the wrestlers with assurances to probe their allegations against Sharan and the WFI after the protest first broke out in January.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)