Thursday, December 21, 2023

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh loyalist Sanjay Singh becomes new WFI president

Sanjay Singh became the new president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with his panel comfortably winning bulk of the posts in the delayed polls. Singh is considered to be outgoing chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s loyalist in the sports body.

Sanjay, who is UP Wrestling Association Vice President, bagged 40 votes while his rival Anita Sheoran earned seven votes.

“It’s a triumph for the thousands of wrestlers in the country who suffered in the past 7-8 months,” he said after winning the elections.

Sheron’s, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, panel though managed to win the post of secretary general as Prem Chand Lochab beat Darshan Lal.

Brij Bhushan had backed Singh and was confident of his win as the president. “11 months later, today is the election. In the election, Sanjay Singh, in a way, can be described as a representative of the old federation. Sanjay Singh is sure to win the election, ensuring the formation of a new federation for the children. I urge them to create a conducive sports environment as soon as possible and compensate for any losses,” he had told news agency PTI.

The outcome of the polls would come as a blow to top wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik who had protested for months against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and sought his, and his loyalists’, exit from WFI. However, it is now clear that they failed to get the fraternity behind them despite aggressively pushing for a change of guard.

The wrestlers had accused Brij Bhushan, a BJP MP, of sexually harassing women wrestlers, including juniors, and mobilised huge support from different sections of society. However, the protest came to an end on the day they planned a march towards new Parliament building on 28 May when Delhi police removed all the protesters from Jantar Mantar for rioting.

The wrestlers officially called off their protest on 7 June when Sports Minister Anurag Thakur assured them that none of the family members or close associates of Brij Bhushan will be allowed to enter the WFI election fray.

“We stopped our protests after listening to the govt but now it is the time of the Govt to fulfil their promise that no one related to Brij Bhushan Singh should get a post in the federation. Anurag Thakur said that the govt will keep their promises and we hope the same,” Sakshi Malik had said on 11 December.

“Yes, we met with the sports minister today and reminded him of his promise that no one related to Brij Bhushan should contest the WFI elections,” Bajrang had said.

“Sanjay Singh is his close associate and he should withdraw from the elections or otherwise we will decide our future course of action soon. We told that to the minister,” added Punia.

RSS-affiliate Sanjay hails from Varanasi and is a very close associate of Brij Bhushan. Given the tremendous interest the outgoing chief has in the sport, it is expected that Sanjay will consult him in policy decisions.

Stage set for lifting UWW ban on WFI

The election of the new executive council will also pave the way for lifting the UWW ban on WFI. The world governing body of the game had banned WFI for not conducting election on time, forcing Indian wrestlers to compete as neutral athletes at the 2023 World Championships.

The election process was set in motion in July but was delayed because of court cases. The Supreme Court recently set aside the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, paving the way for the process to elect the new WFI governing body.

(with inputs from PTI)



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