United World Wrestling (UWW) will not intervene in the pending case involving former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s alleged sexual harassment of Indian women wrestlers, but will “listen to the voices of athletes” as it reinstates the world organization to approach. Chef Nenad Lalovic said this on Monday. Seven wrestlers, including Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat, had alleged that Singh had sexually harassed female wrestlers.
The Delhi Police had filed a case against Singh on June 15. After prolonged protests led by Vinesh, Bajrang and Sakshi, Delhi Police filed a case against the six-time MP on several charges of sexual offenses.
The UWW has also suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for not holding elections within the given time frame.
“We followed everything that happened during the wrestlers’ protest and so on. We are concerned about the well-being of our athletes. This is another possibility of being suspended,” said Lalovic, who was here to attend the 141st session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“Now this matter is being monitored by the Indian authorities and we will not interfere unless athletes approach us again for some reason. We listen to the voices of the athletes, wherever they come from,” he added.
He said the suspension of the WFI would be lifted once the elections take place.
“We will be happiest if we can lift the suspension as soon as elections take place and we know who our interlocutors are. In addition, there is a huge administrative work behind all the activities of the federation. At the moment, the administrative work is partly done by the ad hoc committee, but largely by UWW,” he said.
“Let’s hope the situation doesn’t remain confused. There is to be a Supreme Court hearing on November 3 and then, I think, elections will be held in a month or so to allow for normal governance of the federation.
“I think everything that has been done lately is going in the right direction and this will soon solve the problems of Indian wrestling,” he said.
Lalovic made it clear that the WFI had been suspended because there was no board.
“The ministry was required to set up a committee and then the ad hoc committee headed by the IOA ruled,” he said.
“Wrestling activities, very specifically, are difficult to control from the outside. So the people involved in wrestling have to find a solution themselves to help their athletes.” Lalovic said that the Indian athletes will continue to compete in international events regardless of what happens on the WFI board front.
“India is a huge country with a huge number of athletes, but that makes the selection and preparation of athletes even more difficult. This requires a strong national federation, otherwise the athletes will suffer,” he said.
“By suspending the federation, we have not suspended the athletes. And you know that they compete and will continue to compete no matter what happens,” said the Serbian businessman, who is also a member of the IOC.
He lamented his complicated position of attending the IOC session in a country whose wrestling federation, a unit of UWW, is currently suspended.
“The WFI is not directly connected to the IOC, but via the UWW. The IOC absolutely supports our position and our action when it comes to the actual suspension of WFI,” he said.
“You must understand that it is very inconvenient for me to visit India for the IOC session and my own federation has been suspended. I don’t feel very comfortable, I wish the situation was different.”
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