WFI suspends Vinesh Phogat for indiscipline

NEW DELHI: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Tuesday “temporarily suspended” star grappler Vinesh Phogat for indiscipline during her forgettable Tokyo Olympics campaign and also issued notice to young Sonam Malik for misconduct.

It has been learnt that Vinesh, who crashed out of the Tokyo Games in the quarterfinals after a crushing defeat by ‘fall’, has been given time till August 16 to reply to the notice that mentioned indiscipline on three counts. Vinesh, who had travelled to Tokyo from Hungary where she trained with coach Woller Akos, had refused to stay at the Games Village and train with the other team members.

She also did not wear the name of the official sponsors of the Indian contingent, Shiv Naresh, and chose to wear a Nike singlet during her bouts. “This is gross indiscipline. She has been suspended temporarily and barred from all wrestling activities,” a WFI source said.

The officials who were in Tokyo said that Vinesh had created ruckus when she was allotted a room near to her teammates arguing that she might contract coronavirus since these wrestlers travelled to Tokyo from India. runs till the end of Tokyo Olympics, is unlikely to be extended.

The German was appointed as chief coach in November 2017 to train the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani.

It is learnt that Hohn had demanded 50 per cent hike in his salary, which is to be tax-free.

His original contract was worth ₹1.09 crore a year, plus boarding, lodging, medical facilities and leave travel. He wanted to increase it to ₹1.64 crore a year when the contract was up for renewal in October 2020.