The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)’s election result produced a host of controversy as former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s close aide Sanjay Singh won the election. Wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia who were part of the protest, addressed the media after the announcement of result. While Sakshi announced she will be quitting wrestling, Bajrang Punia accused the government of not keeping its promise.
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Notably, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik had met Sports Minister Anurag Thakur a week ago and urged Thakur to stop Sanjay Singh’s poll candidacy.
Sanjay, a Brij Bhushan supporter, was a member of the last WFI Executive Board. He has also been the National Federation’s Joint Secretary since 2019.
“Yes, we met with the sports minister today and reminded him of his promise that no one related to Brij Bhushan should contest the WFI elections,” Bajrang had told PTI after the meeting.
As the election results were announced, it became clear that Sanjay Singh was the winner by quite some margin. And that led to the strong statements from the wrestlers.
“The promise the government made to us has not been kept. Future generations of wrestlers will also have to continue the fight,” Bajrang said on Thursday.
“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,” he added.
