Alongside Bajrang and Vinesh, Sakshi was involved in the protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.(Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
2016 Olympics bronze medal-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik believes the image of last year’s Wrestlers’ Protest was hit by Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia accepting to be exempted from the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
In her newly released book, ‘Witness’, Sakshi – among the three prominent figures of the protest – concedes that ‘nothing good came’ out of her colleagues accepting the ad-hoc committee’s decision, stating that it was one born out of ‘greed’.
“The old way of thinking selfishly was taking over once again. The people close to Bajrang and Vinesh had started filling their minds with greed. Now they were talking about this exemption from trials for the Games,” Sakshi shares.
“…Nothing good came of Bajrang and Vinesh’s decision to take the exemption…their decision badly hurt the image of our protest. It put us in a situation where many supporters started to think that we were actually in the protest for selfish reasons,” the 32-year-old adds.
Furthermore, Vinesh also alleged former Commonwealth Games gold medallist-turned-BJP politician Babita Phogat for not having the best interests of the protest and the wrestlers.
“In hindsight, while I know that ending Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s reign was the primary goal for Vinesh and Bajrang, I made the mistake of thinking that that was Babita’s sole intention too.”
Alongside Bajrang and Vinesh, Sakshi was involved in the protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The three had alleged that Sharan Singh, the former head of the Wrestling Federation of India, sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenure. The case is still being heard in a Delhi court.
Recently, both Vinesh and Bajrang joined the Indian National Congress (INC) party before the Haryana assembly elections. Vinesh, who was disqualified from the Women’s 50Kg Wrestling gold medal match due to being 100gm overweight, won the Julana seat in the Haryana Assembly election.
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