Sakshi Malik retires; Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat unsure of future after Sanjay Singh wins WFI elections

Sakshi Malik has announced her retirement while Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat remained unsure of their wrestling futures after Sanjay Singh was elected as Wrestling Federation of India president. Singh is a loyalist of outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

“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,” said a tearful Malik during a press conference on Thursday.

The 2016 Olympics bronze medallist left her wrestling shoes at the press conference venue as a mark.

#WATCH | Delhi: On former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s aide Sanjay Singh elected as the new president of the WFI, Wrestler Sakshi Malik says, “We have made demands for a woman president. If the president would be a woman, harassment would not happen. But, there was no… pic.twitter.com/SEFwYKErNW

— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2023

“It’s unfortunate that such people are getting elected to such positions in the country. Now, girls will be harassed again. It’s sad that even after fighting against it, we couldn’t bring any changes. I don’t know how to get justice in our own country,” said Phogat.

“It’s unfortunate that government did not stand by its word that no Brij Bhushan loyalist will contest WFI election. We were fighting for truth and women, else we were also active athletes and winning medals for the country. I don’t think the daughters will get justice because the way this system has worked, efforts are being made to break the daughters. Still, we have faith in the judiciary,” claimed Punia.

The trio had accused BJP MP Brij Bhushan of sexually harassing female wrestlers, including juniors, and garnered support from different sections of society. However, their protest was halted on 28 May while trying to peacefully march towards thenew Parliament building. Two weeks later, they met with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and were assured none of the Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh aides and loyalists would take office. However, that has not turned out to be the case.