Sakshi Malik, the bronze medallist from the 2016 Rio Olympics, has announced her retirement from wrestling on Thursday (21 December) following the election of Sanjay Singh as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) according to a report from The Indian Express.

Expressing her decision in a press conference in New Delhi, Malik stated, “Yeh ladai dil se ladi (We fought this battle with our heart). In the end, we slept for 40 days on the roads, but I would like to thank the several people of our country who came to support us during the protests earlier this year. If Brij Bhushan Singh’s business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling.”

She left the conference in tears, with those present appealing for her to reconsider.

Sakshi Malik, a prominent wrestler with a bronze medal in the Olympics, three Commonwealth Games medals, including a gold in Birmingham last year, and four Asian Championships podium finishes, made this announcement on the same day Sanjay Singh, a close associate of former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was elected as the new president of WFI.

Also present at the press conference were Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, key figures in the wrestler protests earlier this year in the national capital.

They had demanded investigations into allegations of sexual harassment of female wrestlers by BJP MP Brij Bhushan and protested for the same.

Vinesh Phogat revealed that the protesting wrestlers had met with Home Minister Amit Shah earlier this year. She paraphrased Shah’s response as, “Aap mujhe 30-40 din ka time dijiye (You give me 30-40 days).” Phogat added, “We protested only after waiting for 3-4 months.”

Last week, Bajrang and Sakshi had met Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, expressing their concerns about the election.

However, Sanjay Kumar, elected as WFI president, asserted that he was eligible for the position and would not withdraw, stating, “Nobody should interfere with elections of a federation if it is happening democratically.”