I am one of the victims of Brij Bhushan, says Vinesh Phogat

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh ahead of her much-anticipated return to the mat after 18 months.

- Shantanu Srivastava

VINESH PHOGAT, wrestler SANJAY SINGH, WFI president

The 31-year-old, in a video posted on social media, revealed she is one of the six women wrestlers who had filed sexual harassment complaints against Singh while highlighting her discomfort in competing at the upcoming National Open Ranking Tournament.

The competition will be held from May 10-12 in Nandini Nagar Mahavidhyalaya in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda, which is Singh's home turf. The tournament will open with the men's freestyle and be followed by Greco Roman (May 11) and women's events (May 12).

Phogat, along with wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, was the face of the 36-day sit-in protest in April-May 2023 against Singh at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

The protest resulted in a major shakeup in WFI with its administration being handed over to an ad hoc committee before fresh elections were held to keep Singh out.

Malik, India’s lone woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal (Rio 2026), announced her retirement from the sport in December 2023 while Punia, a 2021 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and a four-time World Championships medallist, is currently serving a four-year doping ban for refusing to provide urine sample during the selection trials in March 2024.