Deaflympics wrestler Virender Singh to return his Padma Shri Award after Sakshi Malik's retirement

Three-time Deaflympics gold medallist Virender Singh followed suit of Bajarang Punia and returned his Padma Shri Award to stand in solidarity with retired wrestler Sakshi Malik.

On Thursday, 2016 Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik quit wrestling and announced her retirement after Sanjay Singh swept the WFI presidential elections against Anita Sheoran 40-7.

A day after her retirement, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he mentioned returning his Padma Shri Award.

Joining his Olympic counterpart, Virender Singh, who competes in the 74kg division of deaf wrestling, said he would give back his civilian award and asked other prominent names such as Neeraj Chopra and Sachin Tendulkar to join in the movement.

"For the sake of my sister and country's daughter Sakshi Malik, I will return the Padma Shri Award to the honorable Prime Minister @narendramodi ji. I am proud of my sister and your daughter @SakshiMalik. I also request the country's top players to have their say in this @sachin_rt @Neeraj_chopra1," Virender Singh tweeted from his official handle.

Opposition leader meets Indian wrestlers

On Friday night, videos and pictures of Indian National Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visiting Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, at one of their residence just a day after the latter announced to quit wrestling, surfaced online.

The Congress leader was seen interacting with both Olympic medallist along with their closed ones. Here's the video:

Sakshi and Bajrang have been at the loggerheads with former WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh since January 2023. The country's top wrestlers staged protests at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital to demand resignation of Brij Bhushan along with an investigation against him in matters of sexual harrasment and molestation, for which a chargesheet was also filed by the Delhi Police.

Though Brij Bhushan has no power in WFI anymore, his close aide Sanjay Singh's victory in the WFI elections hasn't gone well among the protesting wrestlers. The belief is that the same system will continue, where female wrestlers won't get justice.