Sakshi Malik Announces Retirement After Sanjay Singh Becomes WFI Chief

Former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh-aide Sanjay Singh was on Thursday elected as the new president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The Wrestling Federation of India elections were held on Thursday, December 21, after several postponements earlier in the year. The vote took place earlier in the day in New Delhi, and the counting began soon after.

A panel of Sanjay Singh won the WFI election by 40 votes while the other panel got 7 votes. Following the announcement, wrestler Sakshi Malik decided to quit from wrestling.

"In the end, we slept for 40 days on the roads but I’d like to thank the several people of our country who came to support us during the protests earlier this year. If Brij Bhushan Singh’s business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling," Malik told media in a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.

#WATCH | Delhi: Wrestler Sakshi Malik breaks down as she says "...If Brij Bhushan Singh's business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling..." pic.twitter.com/26jEqgMYSd

 ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2023

"National Camps (for wrestling) will be organised. Wrestlers who want to do politics can do politics, those who want to do wrestling will do wrestling," Singh told the reporters. 

Sanjay served on the WFI's previous executive council. Since 2019, he has also served as the national federation's joint secretary.

The WFI elections were originally slated to be held on August 12. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, while holding a hearing on a petition in August, extended the stay on the WFI elections till September 25. Elections to the federation, which oversees wrestling in the country, were initially planned for June this year.

Earlier, this month, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik met Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur at his residence in the national capital for discussions on the WFI polls. 

Sakshi's husband Satyawart Kadian, a wrestler himself, was also among those who called on the minister. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the wrestlers said they were assured that the government would keep its promise that no one related or close to Brij Bhushan would get a post in the WFI.

As the results are out the press conference is to be held by star wrestlers and Olympic medallists Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who earlier came out against the now-deposed WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment. (With ANI inputs)