A top Indian wrestler has announced she will quit the sport in protest after the country’s wrestling federation replaced the president accused of sexually abusing female athletes with a close ally.
Sakshi Malik, the acclaimed wrestler who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and led the protests against Brij Bhushan Singh, former head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), announced her retirement on Thursday.
Malik has become an outspoken voice on the harassment and discrimination faced by female athletes in India, a predicament underscored by the allegations leveled against Singh in June, which accused him of sexually harassing six female wrestlers, including a minor, during his time at the helm of the WFI.
Singh, who is also a six-time MP and a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), denied any wrongdoing and dramatically said he would hang himself if the allegations were proven true.
Asked about Malik’s decision to quit, Singh, 66, said Thursday: “I have nothing to do with it.”
Singh was relieved of his administrative duties in January and the government promised to investigate the allegations. But Malik and other athletes renewed their protests in April after the government refused to release the findings of a commission looking into the incidents.
In recent months, Singh has actively campaigned to be replaced by Sanjay Singh, predicting his victory to the local press.
On Thursday, the WFI voted to replace Brije Bhushan Singh with Sanjay Singh, who defeated Anita Sheoran, another presidential contender who won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and backed the athletes’ campaign to highlight the allegations. abuse.
“It is a very big victory of truth over lies,” Sanjay Singh told members of the media after the federation’s member institutions secured 40 out of 47 votes. He told reporters he was committed to supporting the wrestlers, but did not comment on Malik’s announcement.
United World Wrestling (UWW), the global wrestling organization that suspended the Indian federation in August due to a protest by wrestlers, has yet to comment on the election.
