Sanjay Singh, a known aide of former chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, on Thursday was elected the new president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Sanjay Singh’s panel comfortably won most of the posts — reportedly giving the controversial Brij Bhushan indirect control over WFI.
All five executive committee members were also from the outgoing chief’s camp. Here is breaking down the development in 10 points:
1. Brij Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh is the UP Wrestling Association Vice President. He was up against former wrestler Anita Sheoran.
2. While Sanjay Singh secured 40 votes, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran could only manage seven.
3. The Brij Bhushan camp won 13 of the 15 posts. It bagged all four posts of Vice Presidents with Delhi’s Jai Prakash (37), West Bengal’s Asit Kumar Saha (42), Punjab’s Kartar Singh (44) and Manipur’s N Phoni (38) emerging victorious.
4. RSS affiliate Sanjay hails from Varanasi, reported news agency PTI. "It’s a triumph for thousands of wrestlers in the country who suffered in the past 7-8 months. We will respond to politics with politics and wrestling with wrestling," Sanjay Singh told reporters after his massive win.
5. From the rival panel, former RSPB secretary Prem Chand Lochab managed to win the key post of secretary general, beating Darshan Lal 27-19.
6.Among the defeated was Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who was in the race for the vice-president post. CM Yadav, who did not turn up for the polls, got only five votes.
7. Shortly after Sanjay Singh, an aide of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was elected as the president of the body in Thursday’s elections, Olympic medallist Sakshee Malikkh declared that she has decided to quit the ring in a show of protest.
8. Ace wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik had accused Brij Bhushan of sexually harassing women wrestlers, including juniors.
9. Their protest gained momentum and managed to mobilise huge support from different sections of society. But the protest fizzled out the day they planned a march towards the new Parliament building on May 28 when Delhi police removed all the protesters from Jantar Mantar for rioting.
10. The wrestlers had officially called off their protest on June 7 when Sports Minister Anurag Thakur assured them that none of the family members or close associates of Brij Bhushan would be allowed to enter the WFI election fray.
