Rio Olympic bronze medalist Sakshi Malik declared her retirement from wrestling on Thursday in protest of Sanjay Singh, a loyalist of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, winning the presidency of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) during the elections held in New Delhi.
Sanjay, a close associate of the outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan, secured the position of WFI president as his panel triumphed, winning 13 out of the 15 posts in the elections on Thursday in New Delhi.
Expressing her disappointment, Sakshi, with tears in her eyes, stated, “We fought from our heart, but if a man like Brij Bhushan, his business partner, and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling.” She made a dramatic announcement by placing her shoes on the table.
“We wanted a female president, but that did not happen,” added the 31-year-old, who is also a Commonwealth Games gold medalist.
Before the elections, Olympic medal-winning wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi had urged Sports Minister Anurag Thakur to prevent anyone associated with Brij Bhushan from participating in the WFI polls. As a result, neither Brij Bhushan’s son Prateek nor son-in-law Vishal Singh contested in the elections.
In response to the election results, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, who spoke to the media, did not confirm whether they would retire from the sport.
“It’s unfortunate that the government did not stand by its word that no Brij Bhushan loyalist would contest the WFI election,” remarked Bajrang.
Vinesh added, “Upcoming women wrestlers will also face exploitation.”
