Sakshee Malikkh says ‘I quit wrestling’ as Brij Bhushan aide Sanjay Singh elected WFI president
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshee Malikkh, in an emotional address to the press, said was going to quit wrestling, expressing her disappointment over.
Sanjay Singh, a loyalist of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, getting elected as Wrestling Federation of India president. Sanjay Singh defeated former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran by 40 votes to 7 in the much-awaited WFI elections which were held in New Delhi on Thursday, December 21.
Sakshee Malikkh, speaking to the press in the capital, said the promises made to the wrestlers by the Sports Ministry over not allowing family and close aides of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment, were not fulfilled. Sakshee highlighted that Sanjay Singh, who served as the vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Federation, was the right-hand man of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Sakshee Malikkh, who addressed the press along with Tokyo Olympics medallist Bajrang Punia, broke down, unable to control her tears. Sakshee thanked the public and the media for its support during their much-talked-about protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the previous regime of the Wrestling Federation of India.
“We slept for 40 days on the roads and a lot of people from several parts of the country came to support us. If Brij Bhushan Singh’s business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling,” the star wrestler said at the Press Club of India on Thursday.
“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,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Sakshee was seen leaving the premises in tears after the emotional press conference in the capital.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was asked about Sakshi Malik’s comment, but the former WFI chief played it down.
“I have nothing to do with this.,,,” Singh said on Thursday.
‘WE DEMANDED A FEMALE PRESIDENT’
Sakshi and the other wrestlers who protested against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a Bhartiya Janata Party Member of Parliament, backed Anita Sheoran to take over as the Wrestling Federation of India president. Anita was bidding to become the first-ever female president of the national wrestling body, but she lost the elections, managing to get only 7 out of 47 votes.
“We have made demands for a woman president. If the president would be a woman, harassment would not happen. But, there was no participation of women earlier and today you can see the list, not even a single woman was given a position. We had fought with complete strength but this fight will continue. The wrestlers of the new generation have to fight,” Sakshee said.
WHY THE PROTEST AGAINST BRIJ BHUSHAN?
Top Olympians, including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, were demanding Singh’s arrest during their months-long protest over allegations of sexual harassment against seven wrestlers, including a minor.
They called off their protest after over five months in June, after a chargesheet was filed against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The complaints against the WFI chief mentioned his attempts at inappropriate touching, putting his hand over the chest of girls, moving his hand from the chest to the back and chasing them, among others.