Wrestlers’ protest: 7-member IOA committee to probe allegations, MC Mary Kom, Yogeshwar Dutt included

Amid ongoing protest by prominent wrestlers at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Friday formed a seven-member committee to probe the allegations against the WFI chief. The committee includes well-known athletes like boxer MC Mary Kom and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt.

The committee will look into the allegations made by grapplers, including World Championship and Olympic medallists, against Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Those who have made the allegations include decorated athletes like Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya.

Apart from Mary Kom and Dutt, the panel also includes the likes of archer Dola Banerjee and Indian Weightlifting Federation of India (IWLF) president Sahdev Yadav. IOA took the decision during its emergency Executive Council meeting on Friday. 

Along with PT Usha, the meeting was attended by joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey, Abhinav Bindra and Yogeshwar Dutt. Olympian Shiva Keshvan was a special invitee in the meeting.

The decision came after the protesting wrestlers reached out to the IOA earlier in the day demanding an enquiry into their allegations. The wrestlers had alleged financial misappropriation by WFI and that the coaches and sports science staff at the national camp are “absolutely incompetent”, in their letter to IOA.

Meanwhile, the WFI chief refuted the allegations against him. He compared the wrestlers’ protest with the Shaheen Bagh stir. The BJP leader will answer the allegations on January 22 after the federation AGM, his son Prateek Bhushan Singh said on Friday. 

READ | 'Wrestlers' fight not with PM Modi, Smriti Irani or BJP': Olympian Babita Phogat

(With inputs from PTI)