After a distraught Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from the sport. Fellow wrestler and Olympic bronze medalist Yogeshwar Dutt has labelled her decision a ‘personal call’. For the unaware, Sakshi Malik had decided to call it quits after Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
Sanjay Singh happens to be the aide of former WFI Chief and sexual assault accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, against whom Sakshi and fellow wrestlers have been protesting since January.
Speaking about Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik, Yogeshwar said that retiring from the sport you love is one of the hardest decisions an athlete can make.
“Taking retirement is a personal call of an athlete, but I will say that it is very sad for a player to leave their game in any situation or condition.
Taking retirement is the saddest part of their career because they give their life to the game and earn recognition as well as respect because of it. It is their decision as well, as it depends on time,” Yogeshwar said.
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How Sakshi Malik announced her shock retirement
Following Sanjay Singh’s election, the new WFI chief, Sakshi Malik, claimed that she was quitting wrestling. In a symbolic gesture, the Olympian put her shoes on the table at the press conference as she announced her retirement.
“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 said, accompanied by some other wrestlers who were part of the protest.
“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,” she added.
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