Bajrang Punia Urges Sports Ministry To Resume Wrestling Activities With Paris Olympics 2024 Approaching

Decorated wrestler Bajrang Punia on Saturday urged the Sports Ministry to restart wrestling activities upon the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) suspension as Paris Olympics 2024 are just seven months away.

WFI functionaries have been on hold for several months now since this year's wrestlers' protest, which led to the suspension of former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. It was followed by the suspension of WFI as well by the world wrestling body (UWW).

Normalcy was not even able to be restored by the election of a new Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) committee, as the Sports Ministry suspended the panel led by Sanjay Singh, citing a breach of its own constitution in the announcement of the national U-15 and U-20 Championships.

"Wrestling activities have come to a standstill for the last several months. Neither has any nationals been held nor have any camps been organised to prepare the players (for Paris Olympics)," Punia wrote on his 'X' account.

Bajrang Punia, who had decided to return his Padma Shri in protest over the election of Sanjay Singh, a Brij Bhushan loyalist, further said the preparation for the Olympics needed urgent attention while keeping wrestlers' future in mind.

"There is an Olympic Games after seven months but no one seems serious about it. Wrestling has given four consecutive medals in the last four Olympics, he said."So, I request the Sports Ministry to start all wrestling activities as soon as possible so that the future of the players can be saved, he added.

Build-up to the Paris Olympics start with the Raking series in Zagreb (Zagreb Open) from January 10 while the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane is to be held in Nice from January 19. The Asian Championships and Asian Olympic Qualifiers will take place back-to-back in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in April. World Olympic qualifiers are in Istanbul in May.

Several protest actions by wrestlers have gained prominence in recent days. Sakshi Malik chose to discontinue her wrestling career, and Vinesh Phogat chose to send PM Narendra Modi a letter returning her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award.