Birj Bhushan loyalist Sanjay elected WFI chief

New Delhi : Brij Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh on Thursday became the new President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with his panel comfortably winning 13 of the 15 posts in the delayed polls, an outcome that triggered outrage among protesting wrestlers with Sakshi Malik announcing her retirement from the sport.

Sanjay, who is UP Wrestling Association Vice President and hails from Varanasi, secured 40 votes as against seven that his rival and 2010 CWG gold medallist Anita Sheoran got.

Given the tremendous interest the outgoing chief has in the sport, it is expected that RSS-affiliate Sanjay, who runs a construction business, will consult him in policy decisions.

"It's a triumph for thousands of wrestlers in the country who suffered in the past 7-8 months," Sanjay Singh told reporters after his huge win. "We will respond to politics with politics and wrestling with wrestling," Sanjay replied when asked about politics being played within federation.

The panel of Sheoran, a CWG gold medallist, though managed to win the key post of secretary general with Prem Chand Lochab, a former RSPB secretary, defeating Darshan Lal 27-19. Devender Singh Kadian, who runs a chain of food joints on National Highways and is considered to be close to protesting wrestlers, claimed the senior vice president's post, beating Nanavati 32-15.

The victory of these two candidates from the Sheoran camp suggests that a compromise formula must have been worked out since Sanjay won by a huge margin while votes were split in the elections for these two posts.

The WFI office expectedly wore a festive look with Brij Bhushan supporters shouting victory slogans. Slogans like 'Sanjay bhaiya kya le kechale, Brij Bhushan ki khadau le kechale' (What did Sanjay carry with him, Brij Bhushan's wooden slippers) also reverberated inside the BJP MP's bunglow that houses the WFI office.

The Brij Bhushan camp swept all the four Vice President posts with Delhi's Jai Prakash (37), West Bengal's Asit Kumar Saha (42), Punjab's Kartar Singh (44) and Manipur's N Phoni (38) winning the elections.

Uttarakhand's Satyapal Singh Deshwal, who is also from Brij Bhushan camp, is the new treasurer. He beat Jammu and Kashmir's Dushyant Sharma 34-12.