We delayed in saying we stand with the protesting wrestlers: Sharath Kamal | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: As the wrestlers continue to protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding the arrest of their federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh under POCSO, the focus is trained on Athletes Commission of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), comprising Olympians and former legends of Indian sport. The commission has been seen as showing reluctance in publicly coming out in support of the protesting sportspersons.
Achanta Sharath Kamal, vice-chairman of the commission, said on Monday that the commission may have erred in delaying showing their solidarity for the protesting wrestlers. The veteran table tennis star and Khel Ratna awardee spoke to TOI on the issue. Excerpts:
Personally, what’s your view of what’s happening at Jantar Mantar?
When the protest started off in January, the athlete’s commission tried to get in touch officially. A few of us went in and met the wrestlers. We were trying to be the bridge between the players and the administration, but still, we were very young (in our jobs). The commission was just formed in November last year, so we also didn’t know the exact roles and regulations. In our own initial meetings with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) too, we kept asking what our role should be in this kind of an issue. We spoke to them and got an understanding of what we could do, what our role was.
But by then a lot of things had escalated. And it was just not a mere issue between players and the administration. It became much more than that. Even now, it’s a lot more political, I would say, than just about the players. And now again when they went to court, we had no idea that they were doing it.

We delayed in getting a statement out for them, saying that we stand in solidarity with the players. As athletes, it’s really disheartening to see that they had to come to the streets and really fight it out. I do understand that we’ve been late coming out with it.
Why did you delay it?
See, the IOA was handling it on one side. And as I said, initially we stepped up and we went there, but the second time when they moved the court, then it was like we don’t have a role to play in this now.
How will you face these athletes when you guys come face to face at the Asian Games, if they go, or at the Olympics in Paris next? Did you fail them?
I don’t know if we failed them. I really can’t say much here, because we tried to establish some kind of contact with them.
We can say, ‘Yes, it is very tough for us to see that the sportspersons are in this situation’, but in the end of it, at least now it’s in a court of law. Nothing much, I think you or I can do now.
Was there political pressure on the commission?
It’s just that within the Athletes Commission there was a lack of unanimity. Some of us said, ‘It’s too late now’, some of us said, ‘Better late than never, we can still be with them.’ We are still trying to figure it out. I don’t know if it will bring about any change.
What would make your conscience clear on this?
All that we can do now is support the athlete fraternity. The only thing that I would tell them is, ‘Yes, we would like to stand in solidarity with the players and try to support them in this whole process, so that nobody faces this kind of a struggle.’ It’s not that this would not happen in some other sport tomorrow. (But) people are more vocal now, players have the guts to come out to say that they’ve been exploited, or the selection process is not fair. We will make ourselves be more present and be more available for the players.
Sharath, you’ve been an elder, a kind of a moral centre in Indian table-tennis, especially during a case when a woman player’s demand for justice was at the centre of it. It led to the dissolution of the TTFI panel. How different is this case when women wrestlers too are seeking justice against their official? Didn’t Manika Batra’s stand cross your mind?
Yes, it did. It did, that if this sort of thing happened in my own field of table tennis, what should I be doing? Yes, of course, this question keeps coming up. But at the same time, I feel we did get our representation in. Of course, we might not have actively played a major role. But from the Athlete Commission’s side, would getting a statement out do any good? Just by saying ‘We are by your side’… what does it bring?
A lot of solidarity. And that’s where they feel betrayed…
We still haven’t completely decided on what must be done from the Athletes Commission’s side. But we will at least go to the IOA and say, ‘Please take care of these situations’, because it is the big names that are involved here and there could be similar cases that could come in later. It’s the same thing that happened in table tennis. Issues like this will come in, so it is up to the Athletes Commission first to be part of the athletes’ journey and their struggle. We will have to educate them in terms of what safeguards are in place if such things happen.
When this was first brought to the Athletes Commission to the current moment, how much has been achieved or resolved?
Initially, the three-member committee that was formed met and within two or three weeks, they submitted their report outlining the issues that had happened. They said we will have to investigate it in a legal way. Because at that point, there were suggestions too given by the committee. I am not sure how much of that was followed.
We don’t know what exactly happened thereafter. But for them to move court… you know, at that point in time it felt like that everything was being resolved.
Doesn’t the issue smack of clear political interference? There’s finally an FIR, but no arrest anywhere?
Well, saying as such, there is. If you are asking my opinion, I cannot say much. When you look at a picture from outside, and when you see how things are going and who’s supporting whom, it’s also politically driven. In my opinion, we just have to wait. The same thing happened with Manika and the TTFI, the case is still on. I don’t know if she feels that she got justice. Of course, she got the federation suspended, but things are running pretty much like it was before.
Given this high level of politics, I don’t know what I can do.