Brij Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh elected WFI President, Sakshi Malik quits wrestling in protest

Brij Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh on Thursday became the new President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with his panel comfortably winning 13 of the 15 posts in the delayed polls, an outcome that triggered outrage among protesting wrestlers with Sakshi Malik announcing her retirement from the sport.

Sanjay, who is UP Wrestling Association Vice President and hails from Varanasi, secured 40 votes as against seven that his rival and 2010 CWG gold medallist Anita Sheoran got.

Given the tremendous interest the outgoing chief has in the sport, it is expected that RSS-affiliate Sanjay, who runs a construction business, will consult him in policy decisions.

"It's a triumph for thousands of wrestlers in the country who suffered in the past 7-8 months," Sanjay Singh told reporters after his huge win.

"We will respond to politics with politics and wrestling with wrestling," Sanjay replied when asked about politics being played within federation.

The panel of Sheoran, a CWG gold medallist, though managed to win the key post of secretary general with Prem Chand Lochab, a former RSPB secretary, defeating Darshan Lal 27-19.

Devender Singh Kadian, who runs a chain of food joints on National Highways and is considered to be close to protesting wrestlers, claimed the senior vice president's post, beating I D Nanavati 32-15.

The victory of these two candidates from the Sheoran camp suggests that a compromise formula must have been worked out since Sanjay won by a huge margin while votes were split in the elections for these two posts.

The WFI office expectedly wore a festive look with Brij Bhushan supporters shouting victory slogans.

Slogans like 'Sanjay bhaiya kya le ke chale, Brij Bhushan ki khadau le ke chale' (What did Sanjay carry with him, Brij Bhushan's wooden slippers) also reverberated inside the BJP MP's bunglow that houses the WFI office.

The Brij Bhushan camp swept all the four Vice President posts with Delhi's Jai Prakash (37), West Bengal's Asit Kumar Saha (42), Punjab's Kartar Singh (44) and Manipur's N Phoni (38) winning the elections.

Uttarakhand's Satyapal Singh Deshwal, who is also from Brij Bhushan camp, is the new treasurer. He beat Jammu and Kashmir's Dushyant Sharma 34-12.

All five executive committee members were also from the outgoing chief's camp.

The new Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, who did not turn up for the polls, got only five votes in the VP election.

Sakshi quits wrestling

Less than one kilometre away from the WFI office, country's top wrestlers Bajrang Puna, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi addressed media, expressing their disappointment at the outcome of the WFI polls.

Sakshi, as a mark of protest against the election result, quit the sport. It is another matter that she had been struggling of late and had lost trials to young wrestler Sonam Malik several times.

The three wrestlers were face of the protest against the BJP MP, who they had accused of sexually exploiting several women wrestlers, including juniors.

"We fought from our heart but if a man like Brij Bhushan, his business partner and a close aide has been elected as the president of WFI, then I quit wrestling," said a teary-eyed Sakshi, and kept her shoes on the table in a dramatic announcement.

"We wanted a female president but that did not happen," the 31-year-old, who is also a CWG gold medallist, added.

Ahead of the elections, Tokyo Games bronze medallist Bajrang Punia and Sakshi had repeatedly requested Sports Minister Anurag Thakur to stop anyone associated with Brij Bhushan from contesting the WFI polls.

Consequently, neither Brij Bhushan's son Prateek nor son-in-law Vishal Singh entered the fray. "It's unfortunate that government did not stand by its word that no Brij Bhushan loyalist will contest WFI election," said Bajrang.

"Upcoming women wrestlers will also face exploitation," feared Vinesh.

Vendetta will not be pursued 

Brij Bhushan assured that no vendetta politics will be played and even if the protesting wrestlers want to continue wrestling, they will be treated with all fairness.

"There will be no partiality. All will get support from WFI," Brij Bhushan told PTI when asked if the federation will support the wrestlers who had launched protest against him.

"We have to look after the game and not the mistakes of the wrestlers. If they will suffer due to their mistakes, then the federation will not be impartial," he assured.

The elite wrestlers had managed to mobilise huge support from different sections of society during their protest but the agitation fizzled out the day they planned a march towards new Parliament building on May 28 when Delhi police removed all the protesters from Jantar Mantar for rioting.

The wrestlers had officially called off their protest on June 7 when the Sports Minister assured them that none of the family members or close associates of Brij Bhushan will be allowed to enter the WFI election fray.

"It's unfortunate that government did not stand by its word that no Brij Bhushan loyalist will contest WFI election," Bajrang said adding that he is also not sure if he wants to continue his career.

Stage set for lifting UWW ban on WFI

The WFI elections will also pave the way for lifting the UWW ban on it. The world governing body of the game had banned WFI for not conducting election on time, forcing Indian wrestlers to compete as neutral athletes at the 2023 World Championships.