Sanjay Singh – a close aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the BJP MP accused of sexually harassing women athletes – assumed full charge of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) starting Monday.This comes after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced it would dissolve ‘with immediate effect’ the three-member ad-hoc committee, formed under the instructions of the government after it suspended the Sanjay-led WFI executive committee.
The IOA said the decision was taken in response to the United World Wrestling (UWW) lifting its ban on the WFI last month and the ‘successful completion’ of the selection trials for the Paris Olympics qualification tournaments.
”Consequent upon the aforementioned developments, there is no further need for running the activities of the WFI through an Adhoc Committee,” an IOA order, also copied to the Secretary, Sports Ministry, read.
The IOA’s decision comes with two conditions, similar to what the UWW demanded. The first, it added in its order, is that the WFI must ‘appoint a safeguarding committee/officer at the earliest to address concerns of abuse and harassment…’ The second, the IOA said, is to ‘conduct the elections of the Athletes Commission’, thus rendering the earlier election of London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt as its chairman null and void.
While saying he would meet the demands of the IOA and UWW, Sanjay told “This comes as a relief for me, personally. Now, I can focus on wrestling affairs and see what can be done to ensure we can win a medal at the Paris Olympics.”
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates