Former president of the Wrestling Federation of India Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh called the exemption given to Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from the Asian Games trials, “unfortunate”
Singh, popularly known as Bahubali in Uttar Pradesh is currently embroiled in a sexual harassment case filed by multiple top wrestlers. The 6-time MP called the shots for over a decade as the president of the federation which is currently being managed by an ad-hoc panel set up by the Indian Olympic Association.
The panel exempted Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from the trials for the upcoming Asian Games in China. The wrestlers had earlier asked for an extension of the trial deadline so that they can prepare for it.
Also Read Explained: Why Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia's trial exemptions cannot be challenged | Asian Games 2023
The decision snowballed into a huge controversy with Singh harshly criticising the wrestlers who protested against him. He said, “the reasons behind all this (protest) are becoming crystal clear”
The 3-time chief of the wrestling body is now finding faults with the decisions of the ad-hoc panel but he had himself given multiple arbitrary exemptions to the “iconic wrestlers” in the past.
And apparently, it did not “hurt the sport of wrestling in this country" then.
The 6-time Member of Parliament exempted Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia, Naveen Malik and Ravi Dahiya when the wrestling body picked the team for the World Championships in 2022.
Such exemptions are well within the federation’s Selection Trial Regulation.
The rule says, “The Selection Trials in all weight categories are mandatory, however, the Selection Committee will have the discretion to select the iconic players after suggestions from Chief Coach/Foreign Expert.”
The regulations define “iconic players” as “Olympic/ World Championship medal winners and last Asian Games Gold Medal winners”
The rules also give veto power to the head of the selection committee which is the WFI chief. Therefore, the four wrestlers - Bajrang, Deepak, Naveen and Ravi got the exemption while Singh was at the helm of WFI.
While Bajrang, Deepak, Naveen and Ravi returned with medals from Birmingham 2022, not all met the criteria to get exemptions for the Worlds.
While Bajrang and Ravi met the criteria as they had won medals in the 2020 Olympics, Naveen and Deepak Punia were allowed to skip the trials for the Worlds due to Singh’s veto power.
Interestingly, Vinesh Phogat, who is one of the most prominent faces of the wrestlers’ protest against Singh had returned from Birmingham 2022 with Gold but was forced to appear for the Worlds trials.
After winning Bronze in Belgrade, where the 2022 edition of the Worlds was held, Vinesh had said that she came third because of the trials and that she would have won gold otherwise.
The federation even gave an exemption to Olympic silver medalist Sushil Kumar who made his return to Asian Games after 12 years for the 2018 event. The WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar who is a co-accused in the sexual misconduct case had justified Sushil’s exemption then, by saying that it will disturb the wrestler's momentum.
Six grapplers - Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Sangeeta Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Satyawart Kadian and Jitendra Kinha - had sought an extension of the deadline for the 2023 Asian Game trials which were scheduled to end on July 23.
While the deadline which originally was July 15 was extended by a week, IOA panel had also ruled that the protesting wrestlers would need to go through a one-bout trial and face the winner of the trial of their respective weight category.
After harsh criticism, the panel decided to dump the idea and opted to grant exemptions to 2 wrestlers – Vinesh and Bajrang.
Rio bronze medallist Sakshi on the other hand made it clear that she is against exemptions and turned down an offer of direct qualification for the Asian Games on account of being an Olympic medallist.
She said, "I was also told to e-mail that my name would be considered too. But I have refused, I do not want to go without the trials."
In 2022, the 30-year-old was asked by the federation to take the trials for the Worlds even after she won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She, however, later refused to participate in the trial and pulled out of the event.
As per the Asian Games rules mentioned in the Selection Regulation, Vinesh and Bajrang qualify for an exemption because both won bronze last at the Worlds.
Olympic medalist Yogeshwar Dutt, who retired in 2018, also called the decision “biased” and questioned the omission of Ravi Dahiya, who checked all the boxes for direct entry, but the Olympic silver medalist may have axed his own foot.
Dahiya, as per reports, was exempted but the 25-year-old, who had just recovered from a knee ligament injury, chose to participate in the trial only to falter against an unheralded Atish Todkar.
A legal challenge to Punia and Phogat’s exemption came from Antim Panghal. The heartbroken wrestler, who is now a standby in the same category as Vinesh, filed a plea in Delhi High Court questioning the grounds on which Phogat had been given an exemption. Her plea was dismissed.
But Bajrang answered Panghal’s question in Facebook live - “Antim, you said you became the first Indian to win U-20 championship but Vinesh is also the only woman wrestler to have won two World Championship medals. You filed a court case against us?”
