Wrestling Federation of India to be revamped, Brij Bhushan given 24 hours to resign

The sports ministry has also agreed to a complete overhaul of the WFI, sources said.

These decisions were taken following a meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.

In the meeting, the wrestlers submitted before Anurag Thakur the harassment and mental torture faced by wrestlers at the hands of Brij Bhushan and his associates. They also alleged that the Federation was giving death threats to wrestlers.

Moreover, the sports ministry agreed to wrestlers' demand of appointing new coaches and physiotherapists and agreed upon shifting wrestling training centres from Lucknow to Delhi.

Earlier, star Indian wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia besides Vinesh Phogat and others, staged sit-in protests at Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan, indicting him of sexual exploitation and intimidation and have demanded that the federation be disbanded.

The wrestlers had met with the government officials and discussed their issues with Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, Director General SAI Sandip Pradhan and Joint Secretary (Sports) Kunal.

(With UNI inputs)