Vinesh Phogat on Sunday posted an undated letter on social media to prove that the six protesting wrestlers did not demand exemption from Asian Games trials and they sought only time till August for preparation.

Vinesh shared a picture of the letter, which mentions six wrestlers, including herself. It requested for some extra time to train ahead of the trials.

Late on Sunday, the protesting wrestlers said the fight against Brijbhushan Sharan Singh will be fought in the court and not on the roads.

Vinesh, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia posted identical tweets, where they said the government has fulfilled its promise of filing a chargesheet against Singh.

“In this case, the wrestlers’ will continue till we get justice but it (fight) will be in court and not on the road,” the statement on Twitter read.

“Regarding the reform in WFI, the election process, as promised, has begun. We will wait for fulfillment of promises made by the government regarding the July 11 elections.”

A few minutes after posting the statement, Vinesh and Sakshi tweeted that they are taking a break from social media for a few days.

The six protesting wrestlers were handed one-bout trials by the IOA ad-hoc panel, a move that was criticised by several wrestlers as they demanded fair trials for everyone.

Vinesh, though, did not say if they are willing to appear in full trials, like all other wrestlers. “It is requested to you that due to their participation in the wrestlers’ protest, the below-mentioned wrestlers need some additional time to prepare for the trials for the Asian Games and the World Championships,” the undated letter, addressed to Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, read.

The request was made for protesting wrestlers Bajrang (65kg), Sakshi (62kg), her husband Satyawart Kadian (97kg), Sangeeta Phogat (57kg), Jitender Kumar (86kg) and Vinesh (53kg) herself.

“Hence it is a request to you that trials must be held for these wrestlers after August 10, 2023,” the letter, signed by all six wrestlers mentioned, added. Along with sharing the letter, Vinesh wrote on her Twitter handle: “The protesting wrestlers had only requested to postpone the date of the trials, since due to our participation in the protests for the last six months, we did not get enough time for practice.

“We understand that this is a serious matter, which is why we are sharing this letter with you. The enemy is trying to break the unity among the wrestlers, we cannot let them have success,” Vinesh added.

Legal trouble

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections, delayed several times, were stalled yet again with the Gauhati High Court on Sunday staying the July 11 polls on a petition filed by the Assam Wrestling Association (AWA).

The Assam Wrestling Association, in its petition filed against the WFI, IOA ad-hoc panel and the sports ministry, said that though it was entitled to be an affiliated member of the WFI, it was not granted one. The state unit claimed that the then WFI Executive Committee had made recommendation for its affiliation at the Federations’ General Council in Gonda, on November 15, 2014 but it was denied recognition.

The IOA ad-hoc panel had fixed June 25 as the last date for receiving the names for the electoral college while the elections were fixed for July 11. The petitioner contended that unless their body is affiliated to the WFI, and they can nominate their representative to the electoral college, the election process should be stalled.

The court directed the respondents — WFI ad-hoc body and the sports ministry — that till the next date is fixed for hearing they should not proceed with the elections of the executive committee of the WFI.

The court has fixed July 17 as the next date for the hearing. AWA said in its petition that they were “actively involved” in promoting wrestling in the state and had organised various national and state-level tournaments at the “behest” of the WFI. The state association said in its plea that despite “several efforts” it did not get recognition.

The WFI, before being suspended by the sports ministry, had set May 7 as the date for elections.