Wrestling Row: Protesting Grapplers From Bajrang Punia To Vinesh Phogat To Throw Medals In River Ganga, Informs Olympian Sakshi Malik

Two days after India's top athletes were detained by the Delhi Police, Sakshi Malik has informed that the protesting wrestlers will throw their medals in Ganga river at Haridwar on Tuesday evening. Sakshi, who won the Bronze (Rio 2016) with Bajrang Punia (2020 Tokyo medalist) and world championship medalist Vinesh Phogat will throw their medals in Ganga as Malik informed through her social media handle.

"These medals are our life and soul. After we put it in River Ganga, there would be no meaning for us to live for. so we will got to India Gate and sit on a fast until death," the wrestlers said in a statement.

pic.twitter.com/wdMCzeADEo — Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) May 30, 2023

Recently, the scenes at the protest got ugly and the incident involved eminent athletes who had won medals at the Olympics and World Championships, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sangeeta Phogat, along with their supporters. They breached the security perimeter as they marched towards the newly built Parliament building to hold a planned women's 'Mahapanchayat'.

The wrestlers are demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the outgoing president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), on charges of sexually harassing several women wrestlers, including a minor. They had scheduled the women's Mahapanchayat during the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.