File photo of Sakshi Malik (L) and Vinesh Phogat© AFP
Vinesh Phogat responded to allegations from Sakshi Malik that the protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh developed cracks when “people close to” Vinesh began to fill her mind with “greed”. Sakshi also alleged that Vinesh and Bajrang Punia’s decision to accept exemption from Asian Games trails also tarnished the image of the protests. However, Vinesh dismissed any such speculations and said that they fought for a good cause before adding that if speaking up for athletes is “greed”, then she will continue to have such “greed”.
“No one gave me anything in writing, nor can I assume someone’s intentions. The good thing is that we fought for a good cause. If playing in the Olympics and winning a medal for our country is greed, then yes, I will carry that ‘greed’ till my last breath. What exactly is greed? If, as an athlete, speaking up for fellow athletes and standing by my sisters is greed, then I consider it a good kind of greed. The desire to play for the country should always remain,” Phogat told ANI.
Sakshi, who was one of the three prominent faces of the prolonged protest, made this statement in her recently-released book ‘Witness’.
“The old way of thinking selfishly was taking over once again. The people close to Bajrang and Vinesh had started filling their minds with greed. Now they were talking about this exemption from trials for the Games,” Sakshi wrote in the book co-authored with journalist Jonathan Selvaraj but did not give names of those who influenced the duo.
“…Nothing good came of Bajrang and Vinesh’s decision to take the exemption…their decision badly hurt the image of our protest. It put us in a situation where many supporters started to think that we were actually in the protest for selfish reasons,” the 32-year-old said.
(With PTI inputs)
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