Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik. (X)
Sakshi revealed in her memoir that people close to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat had started polluting their minds with greed, and the grapplers’ decision to accept the exemption took a toll on the image of the protest.
Former Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik stated that Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia’s call to accept exemption from the trials for the 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships compromised the true motive behind the protest the trio spearheaded in their fight against former WFI head Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.
Sakshi revealed in her memoir that people close to her fellow wrestlers had started polluting their minds with greed, and the grapplers’ decision to accept the exemption hurt the image of the protest.
“The old way of thinking selfishly was taking over once again. The people close to Bajrang and Vinesh had started filling their minds with greed. Now they were talking about this exemption from trials for the Games,” Sakshi wrote in her book titled ‘Witness’.
“Nothing good came of Bajrang and Vinesh’s decision to take the exemption. Their decision badly hurt the image of our protest. It put us in a situation where many supporters started to think that we were actually in the protest for selfish reasons,” she elaborated.
She also opened up about her non-confrontational nature and how it took her a considerably long time to pick up her first win on the wrestling mat.
“It’s a fear that I’ve carried to the end of my career. I’ve never enjoyed the actual act of confrontation.
“I was an exceptionally slow starter in wrestling. I won my first bout only after nearly two years of my first stepping on a wrestling mat. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any physical skills.
“I was always one of the fastest and strongest girls at my coaching centre for my age. But I never developed the fearlessness you needed for a fight. I would always get very nervous before my bouts.”
Sakshi also alleged that wrestler-turned-politician Babita Phogat had ulterior motives in her involvement in the protest.
“In hindsight, while I know that ending Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s reign was the primary goal for Vinesh and Bajrang, I made the mistake of thinking that that was Babita’s sole intention too,” Sakshi revealed.
“She didn’t just want to just get rid of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh – she wanted to replace him,” she opined.