In the wake of the election of Singh’s loyalist, Olympic-medal winner Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling last week.
New Delhi: The Centre has suspended the newly elected Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) till further orders. Last week, BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s close aide Sanjay Singh was elected as the president of the body that controls wrestling in India. In the wake of the election of Singh’s loyalist, Olympic-medal winner Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling.
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PTI quoted a source as saying that the new body hadn’t followed the WFI constitution. The source said they had not terminated the federation but suspended it till further.
“Sanjay Kumar Singh, newly-elected president of WFI announced on 21.12.2023, the day he was elected as president, that U-15 and U-20 nationals for Wrestling will take place in Nandini Nagar, Gonda (UP) before the end of this year. This announcement is hasty, without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers who are to take part in the said nationals and without following the provisions of the constitution of WFI. As per clause 3 (e) of preamble of constitution of WFI, object of the WFI, among others, is to arrange holding of Senior, Junior and Sub Junior National Championships as per UWW Rules at places selected by the Executive Committee,” the source told PTI.
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Last week, in an emotional press conference, Sakshi Malik put her shoes on the table in protest of Sanjay Singh’s election and announced her decision to quit wrestling. This came months after several star wrestlers accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing women wrestlers and protested against him for several weeks.
“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,” she had said.
After Sanjay Singh’s election, Brij Bhushan had announced the dates for under-15 and under-20 nationals.
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“Because of some issues, national or state level wrestling events were paused in the country for 11 months…We have announced to hold Under-15 and Under-20 wrestling events from 28th December to 31st December…If these tournaments are not organised within 31st, one complete year of the wrestlers will be affected,” Brij Bhushan told the media.
Malik tweeted yesterday why the nationals were being held in Gonda, which she called the area of Brij Bhushan.
“I have given up wrestling but I am worried since last night about those junior women wrestlers who are calling me and telling me that the junior nationals are going to be held from 28th and the new wrestling federation has decided to hold it in Nandani Nagar, Gonda. Gonda is the area of Brijbhushan. Now imagine in what circumstances the junior women wrestlers will go there to wrestle. Is there no other place in this country to host nationals other than Nandani Nagar?,” tweeted Sakshi on her X (formerly Twitter) account.
After Singh’s election, ace wrestler Bajrang Punia, who had been at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protests, said he would return his Padma Shri to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I am returning my Padma Shri award to the Prime Minister,” he wrote on X.
