India's Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik announced her retirement after Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's close aide Sanjay Singh was elected President of the Wrestling Federation of India on December 21. Sakshi said that women wrestlers who filed complaints of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan will be threatened as his 'business partner' takes over the reins.
A day after retiring in protest, Malik in a conversation with India Today claimed that none of the women wrestlers will get justice.
"The moment Brij Bhushan's business partner won the elections, I can't give the guarantee that even one of the women wrestlers would get justice. They have regained the power. They will threaten the ones who came forward to give the case, there are a few wrestlers who have been falsely accused of doping," Sakshi said.
"They are reaching out, they are looking for those wrestlers. Wrestlers from humble family, how much can they fight? If a woman had become president, I assure you many more wrestlers would have come forward," she added.
Sanjay won the election by a landslide as he won 40 out of 47 votes defeating former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran. Earlier, he was the vice-president of Uttar Pradesh's wrestling federation.
Sakshi said that her decision to retire was not impulsive and a lot of thought went behind it. She said that she would not consider taking a U-turn on retirement until Sanjay remains the chief.
"It's a sad moment for me because I decided to quit wrestling only yesterday. The sport that gave us so much, I won medals with the support of the people of this county, I am here today because of wrestling, but I chose to quit it. I took this decision after a lot of thought. I stick to my decision of not wrestling again, if people like Brij Bhushan are part of the federation," the 31-year-old added.
"In the state bodies, there are only people of Brij Bhushan. It's a given that they would vote for him."
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