WFI's emergency general council meeting in Ayodhya called off

The Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) emergency general council meeting, scheduled here for Sunday, was called off after the Sports Ministry directed it to suspend all ongoing activities owing to the various allegations against the sports body and its president. The ministry Saturday said it has directed the WFI to suspend "all ongoing activities with immediate effect", including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP, the federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's stronghold.

Sharan has been accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers and working like a dictatory by some of the country's top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya.

The ministry on Saturday also suspended WFI's assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a fallout of the grapplers' allegations of sexual harassment and corruption against the sports body's chief.

It had decided to suspend Tomar, "with immediate effect, to ensure proper functioning of WFI".

On Friday, Sharan's son Prateek had said that his father will issue a statement on allegations of sexual harassment against him after the sports body's meeting.