Sakshi Malik retiring a 'serious issue', raises questions about democratic process: Vijender Singh

On Thursday (Dec 21), Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling following the appointment of Sanjay Singh as the new Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief. Since Sanjay is a close aide of Brij Bhushan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by six female wrestlers, Sakshi was unhappy with the appointment andconveyed her decisionto the press in the national capital.

"We slept for 40 days on the roads and a lot of people from several parts of the country came to support us. If Brij Bhushan Singh's business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling," the star wrestler said at the Press Club of India on Thursday.

Later, Olympic boxing medallist Vijender Singh empathised with Sakshi andclaimed that her angst was understandable after the Rio Olympics bronze medallist decided to quit. Hefeels her decision should be seen asa 'serious issue'.

Vijender was quoted as saying by India Today, "As a player, it feels very bad because, after a lot of hard work, an athlete reaches that level. She is an Olympic medallist, a Commonwealth Games medalist and an Asian Games medallist. All these wrestlers, including Sakshi, Vinesh and Bajrang, have won medals at the highest level for the country," Vijender Singh said.

"When Sakshi said she would quit wrestling because of the way the election took place, I think it's a serious issue. This raises a lot of questions about the democratic processes involved," he added.

Over the past months, Sakshi, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia led the protests hopingfor a change of guard at the WFI.Following the much-delayed elections, Brij Bhushan'sloyalist Sanjayemerged on top eventually, claiming 40 out of 47 votes.

Meanwhile, Sanjay's family reacted to him succeeding Brij Bhushan and backed him to fulfil the role with utmost sincerity. Sanjay's mother Gyanati Devi also claimed that she knows Brij Bhushan and termed all allegations against him as "baseless".