Vinesh Phogat on Friday accused the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) of trying to stop her from taking part in the 2024 Paris Olympics and also alleged that there could be a conspiracy to trap her in doping. Phogat made the sensational claims on X (formerly Twitter) where she said that WFI is still run by former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by female wrestlers, and the coaches could try to trap her in doping.

“Brij Bhushan and his dummy Sanjay Singh are trying in every way to stop me from playing in the Olympics. All the coaches who have been appointed with the team are the favourites of Brij Bhushan and his team, so it cannot be denied that they may mix something in my water and make me drink it during my match?” Phogat wrote on X.

“If I say that there could be a conspiracy to trap me in doping, then it will not be wrong.”

She also alleged that her personal coach and physio have been denied accreditation for the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament which starts on April 19.

“For the past one month, I have been requesting the Government of India (SAI, TOPS) for the accreditation of my coach and physio. Without accreditation, it is not possible for my coach and physio to accompany me to the competition arena,” she wrote.

“But despite repeated requests, I am not getting any concrete answer from anywhere. No one is ready to help. Will the future of players always be played with like this? “No stone is being left unturned to mentally harass us. How far is it justified to torture us like this before such an important competition?”

Phogat asked if she’s being tortured because she protested against Brij Bhushan and sexual harassment.

“Will we face politics even before we go to play for the country because we raised our voice against sexual harassment? Is this the punishment for raising voice against wrong in our country? I hope we will get justice before we go to play for the country.”

WFI, which is now run by closed aide of Brij Bhushan, Sanjay Singh, has denied all the accusations and said that Phogat’s request for accreditation to her personal coach and physio came after the deadline. As per the WFI, Phogat’s mail came on 18 March while the deadline set by world governing body UWW was March 11 which was further relaxed to March 15 as trials in India were completed only on the last day of the deadline.

“Her e-mail was primarily directed to the ad-hoc panel and the TOPS CEO even as the federation was also marked in it. She sent her request on March 18 but the federation had already registered the support staff by then,” a WFI official told news agency PTI.

“And, we did not get any directive from the Ministry or SAI that Phogat’s coach has to be added to the list. We could have tried, if we had any such instruction. After all, the mail was primarily given to them.

“See, we are allowed to send three coaches for 10 players. Nine coaches are already in Bishkek for the Asian Championship for 30 wrestlers and the same set of coaches will be there for the Asian Qualifier where we will have only five women wrestlers competing. Are three coaches not enough for five wrestlers?

“Why send extra coaches? But if Vinesh wants her personal coach in Bishkek, she can try to get it done from UWW. We have no objection to that.”

The official added that men’s free style wrestler Deepak Punia, a World Championships silver medallist, had also requested for his personal coach to travel with him and there was also a request for Greco Roman coach Anil Pandit.

“They had also sent similar mails but we did not have any instruction from the government if they need to be accommodated. It’s not that Vinesh is being singled out. We have been fair to all.”