NEW DELHI: An Indian Olympic medal winning wrestler has quit the sport after the country’s wrestling federation elected a new president.
Sakshi Malik, aged 31, one of India’s most successful female wrestlers who won the 58 kg freestyle bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, announced her retirement in tears at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
She was one of the female wrestlers who earlier this year protested against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and a parliament member belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing him of sexual and mental harassment of female athletes.
The new WFI president, Sanjay Singh, is said to be close to Brij Bhushan.
“We fought wholeheartedly, but if the new president is Brij Bhushan’s aide, his business partner, then I quit wrestling,” Malik said, and put her boots on the table.
Sanjay secured the WFI chief’s chair by getting 40 votes against only seven for Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran, who was supported by the protesting wrestlers, in the delayed election on Thursday.
The United World Wrestling governing body in August put the WFI under provisional suspension for failing to hold an election in due time.
Malik last competed at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, where she won the gold medal in the women’s 62 kg category.
Her protest, along with well-known female wrestler Vinesh Phogat, and their male colleague, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Bajrang Punia, this year raised questions about women’s safety in sports.
They called off the protest after the sports minister promised a probe into their allegations.
The WFI had denied sexual harassment of female athletes by its president and officials. – BERNAMA
