'It was selfish': Sakshi Malik Blames Vinesh Phogat & Bajrang Punia For Weakening Wrestlers Protest

Rio Olympics Bronze Medalist, Sakshi Malik has bluntly pointed finger at Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia for undermining im of Wrestlers Protest, which me waves last year. According to Malik, Phogat and Punia's decision to accept exemption from Asian Games trials last year hit im of ir protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh as it me ir movement seem "selfish".

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Sakshi Malik Blames Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia

Sakshi, who was one of three prominent faces of prolonged protest, me this statement in her recently-released book 'Witness'. She said ir protest developed cracks when "people close to" Bajrang and Vinesh began to fill ir minds with "greed".

three h alleged that Sharan Singh, former he of Wrestling Federation of India, sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenure. case is still being heard in a Delhi court.

-hoc committee, that took over ministration of wrestling after WFI's suspension, exempted Bajrang and Vinesh from 2023 Asian Games trials but Sakshi decided t to seek favour as suggested by her colleagues.

Eventually, Sakshi did t compete while Vinesh suffered an injury before Games and Bajrang failed to win a medal in Hangzhou.

" old way of thinking selfishly was taking over once again. people close to Bajrang and Vinesh h started filling ir minds with greed. w y were talking about this exemption from trials for Games," Sakshi wrote in book co-authored with journalist Jonathan Selvaraj but did t give names of those who influenced duo.

"...thing good came of Bajrang and Vinesh's decision to take exemption...ir decision bly hurt im of our protest. It put us in a situation where many supporters started to think that we were actually in protest for selfish reasons," 32-year-old said.

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In Aftermath of Protest

protest ended after wrestlers' march towards new Parliament Building was halted by Police on May 28, 2023.

Both Vinesh and Bajrang joined Congress party before Haryana assembly elections earlier this month. former contested and won from Julana constituency, while latter was me he of party's national farmers' unit.

Before political plunge, Vinesh endured a heartbreaking sporting low when she was disqualified from 50kg category Olympic finals in Paris for being 100gm overweight.

(With inputs from PTI)