Sanjay Singh, Brij Bhushan loyalist elected as new WFI President

New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elected Sanjay Singh as its new president on Thursday. In the postponed elections, his panel easily won the majority of the positions, giving outgoing leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh indirect influence over the sports body.

Vice President of the UP Wrestling Association Sanjay received forty votes as opposed to his opponent Anita Sheoran's seven.

The CWG gold medallist panel though managed to win the post of secretary general as Prem Chand Lochab beat Darshan Lal.

The outcome of the polls would give top wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik the feeling that their protest against Brij Bhushan has come to nought as they could not get the fraternity behind them despite aggressively pushing for a change of guard.

A close associate of the BJP MP is now at the helm.

They had accused Brij Bhushan of sexually harassing women wrestlers, including juniors, 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.

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.

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 elections 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 of electing the new WFI governing body.

With PTI inputs