Who is Sanjay Singh? Newly elected chief of Wrestling Federation of India

Sanjay Singh, a close aide of Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, won the election of WFI by beating Anita Sheoran with a margin of 42-7 votes

Sanjay Singh, a close aide of the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh was elected as president of the newly elected governing council of the wrestling body. He beat Anita Sheoran in the 50-vote electoral college 42-7 to claim the post.

Who is Sanjay Singh?

Associated with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the past 12 years as part of the governing council, Singh, who hails from Varanasi, was promoted to the post of joint secretary in 2019. Since Indian Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur made sure that neither Brijbhushan nor any of his family members would be allowed to contest the WFI elections, his son-in-law Vishal Singh and sons Pratik and Karan Bhushan Singh were unable to forward their names.

 

It was after this that Sanjay, the biggest Brijbhushan loyalist, was promoted by him for the post of President. The elections, set to be held in July itself, were put on hold after the Punjab and Haryana High Court order.

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Who was the candidate backed by protesting wrestlers?

Sheoran, the candidate backed by the protesting wrestlers' group which includes Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia and World Championship medalist Vinesh Phogat, could get only seven votes in the election.

Sheoran, a former gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, was also one of the prime witnesses against Brijbhushan in the sexual harassment case. Sheoran is currently serving in the Haryana Police at the post of inspector.

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After the announcement of the results, Sakshi, one of the three most prominent faces of the wrestlers’ protest, said that she was going to quit wrestling forever if people loyal to Brijbhushan remained in power.

What will happen to the ban put in place by the UWW?

United World Wrestling (UWW), the world governing body of the sport, banned WFI after it failed to complete the election process in a free and fair manner in August 2023. However, UWW President Nenad Lalovic in October had said that as soon as the elections are complete in the desired manner, the ban would be lifted.

"As soon as they have elections, the suspension will be lifted. There is no reason to keep the suspension. India is a huge wrestling country, and every wrestler who will not compete because of these issues, it's a catastrophe for India and us,” ESPN has quoted Lalovic as saying.

Thus, in all likelihood, the ban on WFI is likely to be lifted sooner than later.