Wrestling

Experienced campaigner and 2022 Asian Championships bronze medallist Hussamuddin will fight against Alen Rustemovski of Macedonian on Monday in the first round, while Varinder Singh will go up against Mujibillo Tursunov of Uzbekistan. Tokyo Olympian and 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Chaudhary will take on Meysam Gheshlaghi of Iran in the 80kg opening round on Tuesday. Debutant Harsh Choudhary (86 kg) will look to make an instant impact as he will take on Australia's B. Mcallister on Tuesday.

This battle pits two sisters -- Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Vinesh Phogat, who is spearheading the wrestlers' protest against the alleged sexual harassment of wrestlers by the WFI president, and Babita Phogat, her sister and fellow CWG medallist. Both sisters fired salvos at each other, advising each other via tweets.

On Friday evening, the police have registered the FIRs against the WFI president in response to the allegations made by the women wrestlers. However, the copy of the other FIR registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has not been given to the wrestlers as it will be given only to the victim's family, the police added.

"See this is the pressure on Delhi Police even as the whole country is standing with us," Punia, a Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, added on Friday through Instagram. According to Punia, the Delhi Police have disconnected the electricity supply, erected barricades around the protest area, and are preventing access to food and water.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Pranav Tayal said that in the matter of complaints received from female wrestlers, two FIRs have been registered in Connaught Place police station. "The first one pertains to allegations levelled by a minor victim which is registered under the POCSO Act along with relevant IPC sections concerning outraging of modesty etc.

"No one will come out in streets unless one was seriously piqued and harassed to the brim," said Pargat Singh, assailing all those sportsmen and women who went through similar situations but were now sitting mute spectators. "It is such a serious matter. A sportsperson knows how hard it is to come to a national and international level. And if such exploitation of athletes takes place at the highest level, it is even beyond holding one's head of shame and remain part of the sports administration."

Some of India's top wrestlers including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik along with Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Vinesh Phogat are protesting at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, seeking action against WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers.Neeraj Chopra on Friday came out in support of the wrestlers. "It hurts to see our athletes on the streets demanding justice. They have worked hard to represent our great nation and make us proud," said Chopra in a tweet on Friday.

The Minister said the government got the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to set up an Oversight Committee and is now taking action based on major findings in the report submitted by it, by requesting the IOA to set an Ad-hoc Committee and conduct free and fair elections within 45 days. He said as per another finding of the report, an internal committee will be constituted after the elections and it will look into all complaints of sexual and mental harassment.

Anurag Singh Thakur said the government got the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to set up an Oversight Committee and is now taking action based on major findings in the report submitted by it, by requesting the IOA to set an Ad-hoc Committee and conduct free and fair elections within 45 days.

"She first forced us to sit on dharna, asked us that no political leader should come on dais. We listened to her every command and asked all the political leaders to not come meet us, but then she (Babita) politicised everything for her personal benefits and backstabbed us and left us here alone" the wrestler told IANS on condition of anonymity."That was the most disheartening part of our fight for justice. But we know that the entire nation is with us, our truth is with us."