The Delhi Police said on Saturday (May 20) that no wrestler with a valid ticket was barred from attending the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between the Delhi Capitals and the Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The police said in a tweet: "Some social media handles are circulating misleading news regarding wrestlers being barred from watching IPL matches. No valid ticket or pass holder has been stopped at Ferozeshah Kotla ground, everyone has been given entry through their assigned gates," the official Twitter handle of the police tweeted in Hindi.
According to PTI, which cited a senior police officer, 10 to 12 wrestlers, and others attended the match. Only five of them, he said, had tickets, and those without tickets or passes were not allowed to enter.
Those with valid tickets were asked to enter the stadium through the gate where they were permitted. They did, however, leave the area and did not enter the stadium, according to the officer.
The trio of wrestlers — world championships medallist Vinesh, Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Bajrang Punia and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Sakshi Malik — had arrived at the venue wearing white t-shirts that read, 'I support wrestlers'. Wrestlers have resumed their protest at Jantar Mantar against the Wrestling Federation of India's chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, for the past month.
"We had come to watch the match. There were five of us, each with five tickets. "They checked our tickets and told us they wouldn't let us in," Vinesh Phogat was quoted as saying by Indian Express. "They said it would be a security issue and that we'd be seated in a VIP area." We told them, 'No, we want to watch the game from the seats we have tickets for,'" she said.
"At first, they didn't return our tickets. We continued to argue with them, stating that we wanted to watch games from our seats. We're regular people who want to watch the game from regular seats. When we were on our way back, they stopped us again and asked us to come inside. Na toh jaane de rahe, na aane de rahe (They won't let us in or out of the stadium)," she added, as the group was surrounded by security personnel.