NEW DELHI: Pro wrestler Vinesh Phogat gave back her Arjuna Award and Khel Ratna on Saturday, leaving them at Kartavya Path in New Delhi, as she was stopped by the police from going to the Prime Minister’s office. The gold medallist from the Asian Games had declared earlier in the week that she was returning her medals, claiming that they were no longer meaningful in light of the current struggles wrestlers are facing for justice. This decision was communicated by Phogat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a letter. She left the awards at Kartavya Path, where Delhi Police later collected them, after the police prevented her from delivering the awards in person to the Prime Minister’s office on Saturday.She was protesting the current situation in the wrestling community with this act. While she won the Arjuna Award in 2016, Vinesh was awarded the Khel Ratna, India’s highest sports honour, in 2020. In opposition to the election of Sanjay Singh, a close associate of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who had been accused of sexual harassment by well-known grapplers, Phogat, along with fellow Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, had voiced their concerns. Early this year, the grapplers staged a protracted protest at Jantar Mantar. A Delhi court is handling the case. Sakshi Malik had even declared her retirement from the world of professional wrestling shortly after Sanjay Singh became the WFI Chief. Later, the newly-elected panel was suspended by the Sports Ministry for making decisions that did not follow the guidelines set forth in its own constitution. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was then directed to establish an ad hoc committee to manage the wrestling organization’s operations. In her letter, Phogat highlighted the differences between their actual lives and the glitzy depictions in “fancy government advertisements” that talk about women’s empowerment on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).In response to a directive from the Sports Ministry, the IOA on Wednesday formed an ad hoc committee consisting of three members to oversee the daily functions of the Wrestling Federation of India. The two-time World Championship medallist Phogat emphasised in her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that she no longer felt any connection to the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards.
