New Delhi: Olympic wrestler Sakshi Malik accused the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) panel’s suspended chief Sanjay Singh on Tuesday of organising championships and distributing fake certificates.
Appealing to the sports ministry on the matter, Malik questioned how a suspended member of the federation could misuse the WFI’s funds. She also stated that fake certificates would lead sportspersons into trouble.
Malik said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, “The Government of India had suspended the activities of Brij Bhushan’s associate Sanjay Singh, yet Sanjay Singh is running the National Wrestling Championship as per his wish and is distributing fake certificates to the players, which is illegal.”
She added that the national wrestling championship was set to be organised in Jaipur by the Sports Ministry claiming that Singh was organising a fake championship to “assert his dominance”.
“The Wrestling National Championship organized by the Sports Ministry is to be held in Jaipur, but before that, to prove his dominance over wrestling, Sanjay Singh is illegally signing and distributing certificates of different National Championships. How can a suspended person of the organization misuse the money of the organization?”
Malik further stated that such certificates can lead to action being taken against the players. “Tomorrow when the players go to ask for jobs with these certificates, action will be taken against the poor players. Whereas there is no fault of the players.”
She appealed to sports minister Anurag Thakur to look into the issue.
“Action should be taken immediately against Sanjay Singh who is committing such fraud and who is still committing all these frauds despite the ban on his activities. I appeal to the Sports Minister Shri Anurag Thakur ji to look into this issue and save the future of the players from getting spoiled,” Malik said.
In the post, Malik also attached a picture of the alleged fake certificates being distributed to players.
The Sports Ministry issued a stern warning of potential legal repercussions against Sanjay Singh. This comes in response to Singh’s recent “baseless and mischievous” claims regarding the government’s recognition of WFI. The ministry emphasised that any tournament organized by the WFI would be considered “unsanctioned”.
Singh had previously announced the participation of approximately 700 wrestlers in the Senior National Championship scheduled for January 29-31 in Pune, PTI reported.
In a letter addressed to Singh, the ministry said, “Certain claims are being made by you pertaining to the recognition of the currently under-suspension Executive Committee of the WFI and about the competitions being held by you at Pune are being made, which are again absolutely baseless and mischievous.”
