'I quit wrestling': Sakshi Malik says she won't compete under presidency of Brij Bhushan loyalist

NEW DELHI: In the aftermath of

Sanjay Singh

becoming the new president of the

Wrestling Federation of India

(

WFI

), wrestler Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from the sport, saying she won't compete under the presidency of

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

loyalist.
"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...," she said while addressing the media.

Sakshi removed her shoes and put it on the dais before leaving the press conference in tears.

"We have made demands for a woman president. If the president would be a woman, harassment would not happen. But, there was no participation of women earlier and today you can see the list, not even a single woman was given a position. We had fought with complete strength but this fight will continue. The wrestlers of the new generation have to fight," she added.

"It's unfortunate that government did not stand by its word that no Brij Bhushan loyalist will contest WFI election," said

Bajrang Punia

, who was part of the protest against Brij Bhushan.
RSS-affiliate Sanjay hails from Varanasi and is a very close associate of Brij Bhushan. Given the tremendous interest the outgoing chief has in the sport, it is expected that Sanjay will consult him in policy decisions.

The wrestlers had levelled accusations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan, targeting women wrestlers, including juniors. They successfully garnered substantial support from various segments of society.
However, the protest lost momentum on May 28, the day they intended to march towards the new Parliament building, as Delhi Police intervened and removed all the protesters from Jantar Mantar, citing incidents of rioting.