NEW DELHI: Declaring the Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) proposed elections on May 7 as "null and void", the union sports ministry on Monday requested the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to form a transitory or ad-hoc committee to run the day-to-day affairs of the WFI and to conduct elections to its new executive committee within 45 days of the formation of such interim body. The committee will also select wrestlers for international tournaments in the interim period.
The ministry's latest overture could be seen as a move to pacify the agitating wrestlers, who have resumed their sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar after a gap of three months, demanding the immediate arrest of WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on charges of sexual harassment. The wrestlers present at the protest site include Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat, Satyawart Kadian, Somveer Rathi and Jitender Kinha, among others.
