Home Shot in the arm for wrestlers as top marksmen lend support

    Shot in the arm for wrestlers as top marksmen lend support

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    Star wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat.and Sakshi Malik during a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

    The ongoing protest by the wrestlers at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against the alleged misconduct of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has united the sporting world with athletes cutting across disciplines and throwing their weight behind the campaign led by wrestling icons Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat.

    The shooting community too has rallied behind the movement to “better Indian wrestling”, as the campaign leaders put it, and get the victims justice.

    India’s only gold medallist in shooting at the Olympic Games, Abhinav Bindra, has led the shooters in the rally behind the movement. Bindra tweeted that when the country’s top wrestlers think it necessary to pause their training and take to the streets for the cause of fellow wrestlers, remedial measures are required immediately and stressed on the crying need to create a secure environment where all athletes feel safe to give their best.

    Manu Bhaker also pledged her support on Twitter. Calling for appropriate action on the complaints of the wrestlers, who have brought laurels to the country but are now on the road in their quest for justice, Manu said the state of affairs deeply pained her.

    Commonwealth Games gold medallist Avneet Sidhu too urged a quick resolution of the situation and that justice be served.

    Former India shooter Shimon Sharif spent a significant part of Tuesday evening with the protestors and tweeted on how the nation needed to rally around the wrestlers in their hour of need.

    “Not only on social media, I wanted to go in person and express my solidarity with the wrestlers. I spent a lot of time with them at the protest site and came away impressed by the unity being shown by the wrestlers. It is not easy to challenge sports federations in India which are mostly headed by politicians or someone close to a politician. They can be extremely vindictive and can choke the athletes. It’s high time the federations realise that sport belongs to the athletes and they (officials) only exist because of the toil put in by the athletes, said Sharif.

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