Kurukshetra (Haryana): Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday opened about the Wrestling Federation of India elections and its suspension by the Centre saying players should focus more on sports.
“Players should focus more on sports. The issue that came up regarding association is encircled by politics. Elections take place democratically so now they should accept it. Here if some association is elected after voting then they should be accepted. Next time if somebody else wants to try they can,” said Khattar, himself a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
The Sports Ministry on Sunday suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) till further orders after the newly-elected body made a "hasty announcement" of organizing the U-15 and U-20 nationals "without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers" to prepare.
The WFI elections were held on December 21 with former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's loyalist, Sanjay Singh, and his panel winning the polls by a 40-7 margin. Brij Bhushan Singh's panel won 13 posts out of a total of 15 posts.
Earlier, Olympian Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling at an emotional press briefing in New Delhi, claiming that the Centre went back on its word to not install an aide of Brij Bhushan as an office-bearer of the national wrestling body.
Then voicing his misgivings over the election of Sanjay Singh as the new WFI chief, fellow Olympian Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri in protest. The star wrestlers earlier led a protest by grapplers, who came out against Brij Bhushan, accusing him of sexual harassment.
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