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‘Will seek legal advice to save WFI if talks with govt don’t work’: Sanjay Singh
Sanjay Singh said it was not correct to refer to him as the suspended president of WFI. “I have been elected and I am still the WFI president,” he said
VARANASI: Sanjay Singh, the president of the newly elected Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) that was suspended by the Union sports ministry, said he will first hold talks with the government and if it does not work, take legal advice.
“Calling me suspended president of WFI is not correct. I have been elected and I am still the WFI president,” Singh Singh said after reaching Varanasi on Tuesday. Singh was welcomed by scores of supporters at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport who accompanied him into the city. “We organised a grand welcome for Sanjai bhaiya,” said senior vice president of Varanasi Wrestling Association Rajeev Singh Ranu.
On December 21, the former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh-backed Sanjay Singh’s panel dominated the federation elections, taking 13 of the 15 seats on offer. The remaining two positions, that of vice president and secretary general, went to candidates propped up by the protesting wrestlers as part of the compromise formula agreed upon by both parties and mediated by the ministry.
Hours later, Sanjay Singh held a meeting with the office bearers in which the new secretary general, Prem Chand Lochab, was not invited and announced that the U-15 and U-20 Nationals, which were put off since March, would be held in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda, Brij Bhushan Sharan’s backyard.
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik announced on Thursday that she would quit the sport. On Friday, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia left left his Padma Shri award at Kartavya Path in Delhi. On Tuesday, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat also decided to return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards to the Prime Minister, saying that such honours have become meaningless when the grapplers are struggling for justice.
The wrestlers had demanded that no close associate of Brij Bhushan should enter the WFI administration.
Brij Bhushan faces charges of sexual harassment from six female wrestlers. The case is being heard in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court after Delhi Police filed the chargesheet against Brij Bhushan and his erstwhile secretary Vinod Tomar.
