Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik has come out in support of the fellow wrestler, Vinesh Phogat, amid the ongoing controversy surrounding latter’s participation in wrestling trials, urging Prime Minister, Union sports minister and the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to ensure that Vinesh gets an opportunity to compete and win medals for the country.
Sakshi Malik, who was also one of the prominent faces of the months-long protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused the federation of creating obstacles for Vinesh’s comeback instead of supporting athletes, in a video message shared by her on social media.
“In the last few days, the matter of Vinesh’s trials has propped up. The media wants to know my views. For the past 2-3 days, I was thinking about this because Vinesh also belongs to a political party. I am not related to any political party,” Sakshi said in the video posted on Instagram.
“I can give several examples where sports federations of other countries try to make everything easier for the athletes so that females can play for the country even after becoming a mother,” she said.
Sakshi said sports federations across the world work to encourage and support athletes, especially women athletes so that they could continue representing their countries even after marriage or motherhood, criticising the Indian federation rules.
{{/usCountry}}Sakshi said sports federations across the world work to encourage and support athletes, especially women athletes so that they could continue representing their countries even after marriage or motherhood, criticising the Indian federation rules.
{{/usCountry}}“I request PM Narendra Modi, sports minister and the WFI to take Vinesh’s trials,” she added.
The controversy escalated after Vinesh Phogat– who had narrowly missed out on a medal at the Paris Olympics, publicly accused the WFI of targeting her for raising her voice against the federation.
On Monday her comeback efforts suffered a setback when she travelled to the National Open Ranking Tournament in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, hoping to participate in what would have been her first competitive appearance since her retirement announcement after the Paris Olympics.
In an interaction with the media, Vinesh alleged that she was being singled out and unfairly treated because she had openly spoken against the federation during the wrestlers’ protest movement.