- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Some other top Indian wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, also expressed disappointment over the election of Sanjay Singh, an aide to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN a shattering declaration, India’s Olympic medal-winning wrestler Sakshee Malikkh on Thursday (21) said she was quitting the sport. The 31-year-old made the announcement shortly after an aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the former chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) who was accused of sexually harassing a number of female wrestlers, succeeded him in the top post in elections held earlier the same day.
Malikkh won a bronze at the Rio Games in Brazil in 2016.
Sanjay Singh is a long-time ally of Singh, who was chief of the sport’s administrative body for more than a decade and has also been a long-standing parliamentarian representing prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the parliament. Singh had to step aside after some of India’s top wrestlers, including Malikkh, put up a strong protest against him on grounds of the charges of sexually targeting women wrestlers.
In May, they were even detained by the police when they tried to march towards the Indian parliament when Modi was present there. The wrestlers also tried to immerse their medals won on international platforms in the Ganges but was dissuaded by some farmer leaders.
Some other top Indian wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, also expressed disappointment over the results as the trio spoke at a press conference.
Phogat, who won gold at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, was in tears when speaking to the media on Thursday. She said, “Now that Sanjay Singh has been elected chief of the federation, women wrestlers will continue to face harassment.” She added that she has “no clue how to find justice in the country”.
“The future of our wrestling career is in the dark. We do not know where to go,” she said.
Punia, who also has an Olympic bronze, said it is unfortunate that the “government’s promise to us was not fulfilled”.
“We are not linked to any party, we did not come here for politics. We were fighting for truth, but today an aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has become the WFI president,” he said.
Malikkh said they wanted a woman to lead the wrestling federation but that did not happen. She said she is quitting wrestling. She also put her boots on the table as she said this.
In a Hindi post on X, Malikkh said, “Whatever awards I have won for the country, I have won with your blessings, I will always be grateful to all you countrymen. Goodbye to wrestling.”
मैंने देश के लिए जितने भी पुरस्कार जीते हैं आप सब के आशीर्वाद से जीते हैं , मैं आप सभी देशवाशियों की हमेशा आभारी रहुंगी। ??
कुश्ती को अलविदा ।? pic.twitter.com/yyO4lG59rL— Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) December 21, 2023
Singh, who has earlier served as the vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh wrestling body and was part of the WFI’s last executive council and its joint secretary since 2019, said the election results showed truth prevailed over lies.
“They levelled such allegations against a person whose character does not have a place for those traits,” he was quoted as saying by reports. Admitting that he is close to Sharan Singh, Sanjay Singh said there would be no injustice against any woman wrestler under him.
On Sanjay Singh’s victory, Sharan Singh told news agency Asian News International, “I want to give the credit of victory to the wrestlers of the country and the secretary of WFI. I hope that after the formation of the new federation, wrestling events will resume.”
The process for the WFI election started in July, but court cases kept delaying it. It led to the international wrestling body suspending the Indian wrestling body.
