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Usha said the sit-in agitation by wrestlers at Jantar Mantar here has brought bad publicity to the country. They should have first approached the IOA’s Athletes Commission with their grievance before staging a protest, which entered its fifth day on Thursday, she said. Usha also called for the wrestlers to be “disciplined”.
03:50
PT Usha says protesting wrestlers ‘tarnishing India’s image
“IOA has an athletes commission in place. Instead of hitting the streets, these wrestlers should’ve come to us. The athletes should be disciplined. If their problems were real, they should’ve come to our athletes commission. What they are doing is not good for the image of the country. Hitting the streets is not good for Indian sports,” PT Usha told reporters after the IOA’s executive committee (EC) meeting here, which discussed the wrestlers’ protest and decided to form a three-member ad-hoc committee to run the WFI’s day-to-day affairs and hold its elections within 45 days of the formation of the body.
Usha expressed her disappointment over the wrestlers’ attempt to give the agitation a political colour. “Those protesting are renowned wrestlers who brought laurels to the country. They have an equal responsibility of safeguarding the interest of our sports and sportspersons and also the image of our country. However, they are sitting on dharna, asking all political parties to join them etc, is what disappoints me,” Usha added.
05:43
Wrestlers seek PM Modi’s intervention to provide them justice
Shocked by her comments, the protesting wrestlers, led by Olympians Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malikkh, hit back at Usha, demanding respect for their movement to protect the future generation of female wrestlers from facing sexual harassment.
“I am deeply shocked to hear such comments from a legendary athlete like Usha mam. We grew up idolising her and respecting her achievements. She was a role model to us. She has herself been a female athlete with such a distinguished career. How can she not understand the plight of female sportspersons who have been demanding justice and spending nights in the open sky. If she can’t respect our sentiments, we shouldn’t be respecting her. If she wants respect from us, she should also show respect towards the wrestlers’ cause. Her comment today has deeply disturbed me,” said Vinesh.
Bajrang said, “Recently, Usha mam had tweeted that some people tried to illegally occupy her academy land by resorting to hooliganism. Tell me, wasn’t the nation’s image getting tarnished that time?” If being a Rajya Sabha MP nominated on the BJP ticket, she can’t save her academy land, how could you expect normal wrestlers like us to wage and win a fight against (Brij Bhushan) Singh. Usha mam has disappointed our whole community with her statement.”
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