Unhappy with the outcome of the meeting between Sports minister Anurag Thakur and their leaders, the protesting wrestlers, Media house has learned, can re-start their agitation against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Sunday.
Sources close to the wrestlers told IANS, that the grapplers are feeling “cheated” and could resume their protest till Brij Bhushan is sacked. They are also unhappy that the national trials are continuing in Lucknow without them.
“Wrestlers are not at all happy. They feel they were fooled by the ministry. When they saw the news in the morning that the competition is on and Brij Bhushan is relaxed and enjoying bouts as president, (they think) nothing changed, so they are planning to restart their protest on Sunday or Monday,” the sources said.
“Some wrestlers are so scared that they are thinking of leaving India and going abroad,” the sources added.
Indian wrestlers earlier called off their protest late on Friday evening after a second meeting at the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur’s residence in the national capital.
The meeting lasted beyond midnight, following which wrestler Bajrang Punia announced to the media that the other wrestlers are calling off the protest after assurance of action from Thakur against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
The wrestlers have been staging a protest since Wednesday, accusing WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment of women wrestlers, sponsorship fund embezzlement, and athletes’ mismanagement.
The meeting at the Sports Minister’s residence lasted for more than five hours after the wrestlers — Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia, and others — reached at 7 p.m.
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