Wrestling Federation election: ‘Brij Bhushan like an elder brother to me,’ says new president Sanjay Singh | Sport-others News

For Sanjay Kumar Singh, a member of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the past 12 years and a friend of Bhartiya Janata Party MP from Kaiserganj Brij Bhushan Singh Sharan for the past 30 years, there’s a seemingly endless succession of calls offering congratulations. Sitting in the lob of a hotel late into the evening, the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association vice-president is surrounded a slew of supporters as his 40-7 victory in the WFI election over Commonwealth Games gold medall Anita Sheoran sinks in.
Insiders and supporters through the day have muttered about how the result was a forgone conclusion. It is a sentiment echoed the new president as well who says that the victory of his panel was guaranteed.
“The election was in our hands from the first day itself. Voting happened and whatever was supposed to happen, happened. The truth prevailed,” said Singh on Thursday. “We had faith because of the amount of work we have done for wrestlers. Pehelwaan jaante hain yahi se hi unka bhala hone wala hai. (The wrestlers know that only we can take care of their needs.) They know that everything was shut for the last 11 months. Wrestlers weren’t able to compete (under the Indian flag), everything was shut and all the wrestlers had become forlorn. Those conditions were enough to tell us that victory was ours.”

Singh’s rise to the post of president occurred after previous chief Brij Bhushan was accused of sexual harassment of women wrestlers and was liable for prosecution as per the Delhi Police chargesheet.

A Brij Bhushan loyal, Singh’s first act as WFI president was to announce that the U-15 and U-20 nationals will take place in Nandini Nagar, Gonda – the pocket burrough of the former chief. “We are doing them before the end of the year so the entire year isn’t wasted for the youth wrestlers,” argued Singh.
Part of the WFI for a dozen years, Singh comes from a family of farmers who would host a ‘mitti ki kushti’ (mud wrestling) tournament in their native Kashi during Maha Shivaratri. His first official involvement in wrestling came about in 2008 when he became the drict president of the Varanasi Association. In 2009, when Brij Bhushan was president of the newly-formed Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association, Singh would be his vice-president.
The relationship between the two was forged a long time ago, says Singh. “We have the relationship of an elder and younger brother. We know each other from the time when both of our families would organise kushti in Kashi and Ayodhya,” said Singh.

Problems ahead
Despite not having won all 15 seats in the executive council of the WFI, Singh expressed confidence that he wouldn’t face any problems from the two council members from Sheoran’s panel.
“We have the full executive body and the panel so there will be no trouble with the other two candidates from their side who have won. Why would they have a different opinion when it comes to the betterment of wrestling? They are also here for wrestling so I don’t understand how they can have a different opinion on wrestling matters,” said Singh.
One of those wrestling matters is the re-introduction of national camps and national tournaments, both of which have been halted for the past 11 months. Singh said that with the upcoming Paris Olympics, the wrestlers would be given as much exposure as possible in order for them to win quota spots. He said, “Whatever is best for wrestling, we will get together with all other (state) associations and take their opinions. Wherever we feel there is a problem in wrestling, we will try to fix them.”
But Singh may still face opposition from the wrestlers who demanded that Brij Bhushan’s close aides and associates should not be a part of the new WFI. However, backed the erstwhile president, he is now in power and reiterated that all wrestlers were welcome back. When asked whether the three main protesting wrestlers – Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia – will be treated differently now, he said, “We have no ill will towards any wrestler. Whoever will join us and wrestle well will be welcome. This is not just our victory; it is also the victory of the wrestlers.”
When asked whether he has had the chance to speak to any of the three wrestlers, Sanjay said that he had not spoken to them.

But his victory in the elections prompted 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medall Sakshi to announce her retirement. Singh said that he did not want to discuss the matter but rather spend all his energy on helping wrestlers in an Olympic year.
“Kaun kya bol raha hai, kya nahin bol raha hai, usse hume koi matlab nahin. (What someone is saying, or not saying, doesn’t matter to us.)”