No Wrestling Trials To Take Place Under Sanjay Singh, Ad-hoc Committee To Oversee, Reveals Sakshi Malik

Asian Olympic Games Qualifier Wrestling: Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik on Thursday said that the Delhi High Court has ordered Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh that he will not hold any national trials.

This comes after the whole wrestling saga that unfolded last year which resulted in wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi and other protesting grapplers moving to the Delhi High Court against a circular of the WFI to conduct selection trials for the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships 2024 and Asian Olympic Games Qualifier Wrestling Tournament.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, Sakshi said that the court has provided some good news for the protesting wrestlers.

“We have filed a complaint in the Delhi High Court and the court has ordered that no trials will take place under Sanjay Singh and an ad-hoc committee will only hold the trials. We believe that our fight for justice will prevail and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and his supporters should be removed completely from the federation. A clean federation should come up and help wrestlers,” Sakshi said.

Asked if she plans to return to active wrestling in light of the recent development, Sakshi clarified, "I faced a lot of mental and physical issues. I don’t think it will be good to play when your mind is occupied with problems which an athlete should not face. I wish some good young wrestlers would make India proud like I won a prestigious medal in the Olympics (in 2016), and some more names bring laurels to the nation.”

Further enquired about her future plans, if she is thinking of joining politics, the Haryana grappler added, “Politics is not in my mind. There are other ways to help people and my fellow wrestlers. I will plan that accordingly.”