NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze medalist Bajrang Punia on Thursday hinted at the possibility of pulling out from the upcoming Asian Games.
Bajrang said that his decision would be influenced by the wishes of the panchayats that stood by him during the protest held at Jantar Mantar.
Bajrang Punia, along with five other wrestlers, including Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik and Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat, had staged a protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the outgoing chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), over allegations of sexual harassment.
Notably, several khap panchayats had extended their support to the wrestlers.
However, a shift in sentiment occurred later as the khap panchayats expressed dissatisfaction with Bajrang and Vinesh for their request to be exempted from the Asian Games trials in July which was followed by their acceptance of direct entries to the Asian Games scheduled in Hangzhou from September 23.
In the wake of the exemption given to the two from appearing in trials, the parents and coaches of the wrestlers, who had appeared in the July trials, held protests in Hisar and at the Indian Olympic Association headquarters in New Delhi against the decision of the IOA-constituted ad-hoc committee for wrestling.
A meeting of khap panchayats was also convened at the Jat Dharamshala in Jind to discuss the alleged mis-treatment of Vishal Kaliraman, who had topped the Asian Games trials but his name was sent as standby, while Bajrang was the first choice in the 65kg freestyle category.
With the anger among the khap panchayats rising, Bajrang indicated at the Mahapanchayat in Jind district of Haryana that he could withdraw from the Asian Games if the panchayats, which backed him during the protest at Jantar Mantar, ask him to do so.
Around 25 khaps attend the meeting but BKU's Naresh Tikait, who visited the protest site at Jantar Mantar on several occasions, was absent.
The next Khap Mahapanchayat will be held on September 10.
"All those khap panchayats, all those Chaudhury organisation members who joined in the protest at Jantar Mantar, gather them together. Whatever command they give, I am ready to obey that," the Tokyo bronze-medal winner said.
"I am not going to make a decision confined in a room. All the khap panchayats should take that decision. We are engaged in the fight for daughters, because we are not fighting a wrestling match, we are fighting the battle for our daughters."
However, the mahapanchayat could not arrive at a decision on Thursday and another meeting has been called on September 10.
But Bajrang will not attend the September 10 mahapanchayat because he is leaving for Issyk-kul in Kyrgyzstan for training.
He, however, said he will accept and honour whatever decision the mahapanchayat takes.
(With inputs from PTI)
