Anurag Thakur urges protesting wrestlers to wait for outcome of investigation results
Sports Minister has finally spoken on the unfortunate events that transpired in the last few days and assured the wrestlers to patiently wait for the Delhi Police to conclude their investigation. On Tuesday, the wrestlers were stopped by Naresh Tikait, from immersing their medals in Ganga.
Speaking to reporters, Thakur said, "I urge the wrestlers to be patient till the outcome of the investigation. They (wrestlers) should not take any steps that may cause harm to the sport or the aspiring wrestlers. We all are in favour of the sport and sportspersons."
Meanwhile, addressing a rally the WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh said that he is ready to be hanged if proved guilty. "If a single allegation against me is proven, I will hang myself. If you (wrestlers) have any evidence, present it to the Court and I am ready to accept any punishment," Singh added.
Whatever has happened in the last few days has also not gone down well with the UWW, who issued a stern warning to all the stakeholders in India. A statement read, "For several months, United World Wrestling has followed with great concern the situation in India where wrestlers are protesting over allegations of abuse and harassment by the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)," UWW said in a statement. "It has taken due note that the WFI President has been put aside at an early stage and is currently not in charge."
"The events of these last days are even more worrying that the wrestlers were arrested and temporarily detained by the police for initiating a march of protest. The site where they had been protesting for more than a month has also been cleared out by the authorities."
"UWW firmly condemns the treatment and detention of the wrestlers. It expresses its disappointment over the lack of results of the investigations so far. UWW urges the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations."