December 13, 2024 23:49 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Bengaluru techie suicide: Karnataka Police issues summons to wife Nikita, her family members | French President Macron appoints centrist leader Francois Bayrou as new Prime Minister | Congress always prioritised personal interest over Constitution: Rajnath Singh | Jaishankar calls attack on Hindus in Bangladesh 'a source of concern' | Allu Arjun arrested over woman's death in stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere show | RBI receives bomb threat in Russian language, case filed | UP teenager kills mother, lives with body for 5 days | At least six people including a child killed in Tamil Nadu hospital fire | Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess
File image of wrestlers' protest featuring Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Puniya & Sakshi Malik/ courtesy: UNI

'Will continue to have such greed': Vinesh Phogat responds to Sakshi Malik's allegations

| @indiablooms | Oct 23, 2024, at 05:21 am

Vinesh Phogat has dismissed charges by Sakshi Malik that the protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was impaired when "people close to"  the wrestler-turned-politician began to fill her mind with "greed".

Sakshi claimed that Vinesh and Bajrang Punia's decision to accept exemption from Asian Games trials also maligned the protest's image.

However, dismissing such allegations, Vinesh said they fought for a good cause and added 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.

Both Sakshi and Vinesh were among the prominent faces of the prolonged protest.

Sakshi made the comments against Vinesh 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 that was co-authored with journalist Jonathan Selvaraj.

She, however, has refrained from revealing the names of those who influenced the Vinesh and Bajrang Punia.

"...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.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.