Vinesh Phogat on Sanjay Singh’s WFI chief elections win: ‘This is Brij Bhushan’s right-hand man, khud ke bete se bhi zyada khaas!’ | Sport-others News
Three-time Commonwealth Games gold medal Vinesh Phogat expressed her displeasure over the appointed of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Sanjay Singh.
“This is Brij Bhushan’s right-hand man. Apne khud ke bete se bhi zyada khaas hai (He’s more special than his own son). Now that he is president, the coming batch of women wrestlers will also fall prey to them. What has happened behind closed doors will happen in the open,” Vinesh told members of the media in a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
On Thursday, Sanjay Singh was elected the president of Wrestling Federation of India after he beat Anita Sheoran 40 votes to seven. Prem Chand Lochab, who was from the opposing faction seemingly supported the protesting wrestlers, was elected as the secretary-general.
“From the start (Brij Bhushan’s) their camp was saying they will come into power. We knew what their position was. It is sad that people like these are getting these positions,” Phogat added.
Phogat was among the top wrestlers who took to protests earlier this year in the national capital for investigations into the allegations of sexual harassment of female wrestlers BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Phogat said that earlier this year the protesting wrestlers had met with the Home Miner, Amit Shah to speak on the matter. “Aap mujhe 30-40 din ka time dijiye (You give me 30-40 days time),” she paraphrased the response she received from Shah before adding, “It was only after waiting for 3-4 months that we protested.”
“We tried to fight a man who we knew was sexually harassing women wrestlers. He used his power to then change the narrative of our fight to politics or to religion. He did this because he has that power… You saw this and we saw this,” said Bajrang Punia, who was also present at the press conference.
मैंने देश के लिए जितने भी पुरस्कार जीते हैं आप सब के आशीर्वाद से जीते हैं , मैं आप सभी देशवाशियों की हमेशा आभारी रहुंगी। 🇮🇳कुश्ती को अलविदा ।🙏 pic.twitter.com/yyO4lG59rL
— Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) December 21, 2023
“Whoever was part of the protests, be it us, be it the coaches or the wrestlers — none of our futures are safe. Anything can happen to any of us. It can be a car accident or any kind of accusations from A to Z. All of us and the country have now seen his power and his way of working. When twenty women came forward, he broke all of their cases one one,” he added.
Also present in the press conference was Sakshi Malik, who announced her retirement from wrestling following Sanjay Singh’s appointment as the governing body’s chief.
“If Brij Bhushan Singh’s business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling…” Malik said as she put her wrestling shoes on the table and walked out in tears.
