World Champion Mary Kom to lead Govt Panel to manage daily affairs of WFI

• Mary Kom will be leading the sports ministry's Oversight Committee to manage the day-to-day affairs of the wrestling body
• The ministry on Saturday had directed the Wrestling Federation of India to suspend "all ongoing activities with immediate effect"
• This comes amid the #MeToo row in which the star wrestlers were protesting

Boxing great and Olympic medallist Boxing great Mary Kom will be leading the sports ministry's Oversight Committee to manage the day-to-day affairs of the wrestling body amid the #MeToo row. The ministry on Saturday had directed the Wrestling Federation of India to suspend "all ongoing activities with immediate effect", including the Ranking Tournament in Gonda, UP, Sharan's stronghold.

It also suspended Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a fallout of the grapplers' allegations of sexual harassment and corruption against the sports body's chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Last week, union sports minister Anurag Thakur announced the formation of the oversight committee after a lengthy meeting with the protesting wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, and Babita Phogat, among others.

Earlier,  the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formed a seven-member committee to probe wrestlers' allegations of sexual harassment against federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Mary Kom is the chairman of that panel too. Indian Weightlifting Federation of India (IWLF) president Sahdev Yadav, archer Dola Banerjee, and Olympic medal-winning wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt are part of the panel among others.

The committee will also have two lawyers. The panel will first talk with the protesting wrestlers and then the WFI before reaching any conclusion.