Bajrang Punia requests sports ministry to resume wrestling activity ahead Of Paris Olympics

Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia believes the Sports Ministry needs to restart wrestling activities in the country with seven months left for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.

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Bajrang Punia said no one seemed to have taken the preparations for the quadrennial showpiece seriously. Wrestling action has come to a standstill for the last several months owing to the turmoil within the fraternity following the grapplers' protests against former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Bajrang Punia expressed concern over the ongoing rift between the Wrestling Federation of India and the Sports Ministry after the ministry suspended the winning panel chairman Sanjay Singh, an aide of former WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh.

"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)," Bajrang Punia wrote on his 'X' account.

Punia, who had decided to return his Padma Shri in protest against the election of Brij Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh, further said that Olympic preparations needed immediate attention. "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.

Bajrang Punia, the 65kg freestyle Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist, stressed the need for the ministry to focus on the future of the players. "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.

In the recent days, a slew of protest measures from the grapplers took the centre stage as Sakshi Malik decided to retire from wrestling while Vinesh Phogat decided to return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award in a letter addressed to PM Narendra Modi.

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Earlier, the newly appointed ad-hoc committee for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday shifted the WFI office out of the residence of former president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.