Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sakshi Malik, one of the crucial outstanding faces of the wrestlers’ protest adversarial the exemption given to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat for the Asian Games and known as it a transfer to spark infighting amongst wrestlers. The 30-year-old voiced her displeasure in two video clips tweeted via information company ANI sooner than tweeting every other 53-second clip an hour later.
“We had demanded time from the ad hoc committee so that our trials are conducted after August 10 because we were unable to train. Accordingly, they sent a letter giving us time. This is the reason we came out for the training. However, I got a call from the govt saying that they are forwarding the name of both of them (Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat) directly for the Asian Games and asked me to send an email so that my name could also be forwarded. I refused as I did not want a direct entry. I haven’t been to any tournament without the trials neither will I ever do so in the future,” Malik stated on Thursday.
“I am against this move of sending names directly because I don’t want that the right of any player is taken away. This is to cause a fight between the wrestlers. That’s why the names of two people have been sent directly. I am totally against it,” she added. Malik is these days on a self-funded coaching travel in Michigan with wrestler-husband Satyawart Kadian.
IOA’s advert hoc committee has introduced trials for all 18 weight categories for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Trials for Greco Roman and girls can be hung on Saturday whilst males’s freestyle bouts can be performed on Sunday. Winners of Phogat’s (53kg) and Punia’s (65kg) divisions will shuttle as standbys, the committee had declared. The transfer has ended in wrestlers Antim Panghal (53 kg) and Sujeet Kalkal (65 kg) coming near the Delhi High Court.
World Championships silver medalist Anshu Maik additionally threw her weight at the back of the younger wrestlers, calling the rigors their “right.” The 21-year-old, who competes within the 57kg department, tweeted, “An athlete dreams about winning medals at events such as Asian Games and Olympics and bringing glory to the country. But what can one do if athletes’ rights are taken away?”
“The demand for trials by junior wrestlers is absolutely correct. It is their right and I completely support them,” Anshu wrote, tagging the sports activities minister Anurag Thakur and IOA president PT Usha.