This is not the first time that dark side of competitive sports has raised its ugly head. Scams by the selection committees, sexual exploitation that players have to go through or the matches that are fixed, ail the world of sporting regardless of nation or sport itself.
As the country slowly wakes up to the protest by wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India, those in the fraternity are reminded of several similar instances in the past.
Wrestlers have been sitting on a protest since Wednesday against WFI chief and other officials alleging sexual exploitation of several grapplers for several years. The protest began soon after Commonwealth gold medallist Vinesh Phogat alleged that WFI President and other officials had been sexually exploiting the wrestlers for years. WFI President and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Charan Singh has refuted all charges levelled against him.
National Women's Soccer League
Sexual exploitation and abuse of power is a recurrent reality in the sports world. It was only a fortnight ago that National Women's Soccer League in the US permanently banned four coaches in response to an investigation into alleged abuse and misconduct including groping and inappropriate comments.
Exploitation on tour
Back home, last year in June, the Sports Authority of India dismissed chief cycling coach RK Sharma after a female cyclist accused him of misconduct including inappropriate behaviour during a tour of Slovenia.
As per the report of the inquiry committee, the coach had forced the female cyclist to share a hotel room with him on the pretext that accommodation was arranged on twin-sharing basis.
Around the same time frame, an Indian female sailor accused her coach of inappropriate conduct and making her feel, "uncomfortable" during a training session in Germany. To make matters worse, the athlete said she was forced to turn to Sports Authority of India for intervention after sailing federation did not respond to her allegation despite her raising the issue several times.
In the infamous case of sports coach P Nagarajan, seven female athletes came forward with sexual harassment allegations for some action to be taken. Finally, after years of abuse, Nagarajan was arrested after a 19-year-old female athlete alleged that he threatened to murder her and her family if she resisted his advances or made the matter public.
The hierarchy to blame?
The coach-athlete hierarchy in the sports system makes players particularly vulnerable. The culture of subservience, imbalance of power makes it all the more difficult for abused players to come forward to complain against their very coach. Red tapism in the industry comprising delayed inquiries, sometimes zero responsibility, cancelled contracts are further deterrents to report any form of abuse.
As per a report in DW, date gathered from right to information application found that between 2010 to 2020, there were as many as 45 complaints of sexual harassment made to the Sports Authority of India. Out of these 29 complaints were against coaches. As for the unreported number of complaints, it is anybody's guess that the number most likely is much higher.
