Wrestler Satender Malik from Services said on Wednesday that it was the referee Jagbir Singh who put his hands on him first and started the fight and is completely wrong in making accusations against him.
His statements came after the Wrestling Federation of India banned him for hitting referee Jagbir Singh inside the KD Jadhav Hall at the IGI Stadium. This incident happened after Malik lost the 125kg final during the Commonwealth Games 2022 trials, prompting the WFI to impose a life ban on the grappler.
"It is clear from the footage that the referee himself started the fight. He is accusing me of abusing him and threatening him. He is lying. He never told the media that he put his hands on me first. He hid a lot of things and made accusations against me that I abused him. The media exaggerated the entire episode. I felt pained, but I knew that truth could not be hidden," Malik told ANI.
The wrestler said that two to three thousand and 150-200 wrestlers were present at the stadium during the incident.
"If he (referee) is right, then why is he not getting support from the public and he is getting abused instead?" he questioned.
Malik said that he will have to obey the decision of the federation.
He said that though he was sure of winning the bout, but the referee gave a wrong decision, ignored that of the jury and his decision was accepted by all.
The wrestler said that though the Federation does not want the player to suffer, they have to stand by even the wrong decisions of the referees because it needs the latter. "Wrestlers will come and go. If I leave, more can come into my category. But from where referees will come?" he added.
The wrestler said that he does not feel guilty that he did something wrong.
"He could have gone to the Federation had I abused him. But he put his hands on me. Does that make sense?" he added.
Earlier this month, India wrestler Satender Malik from Services was banned for lifetime by Wrestling Federation of India for hitting referee Jagbir Singh inside the KD Jadhav Hall at the IGI stadium.
This incident happened after Malik lost the 125kg final during the Commonwealth Games 2022 trials, prompting the WFI to impose a life ban on the grappler.
"The moment he punched referee at the stadium we decided to impose life ban on Satender Malik at same moment and he will not be allowed to take part in any event of wrestling from now onwards," WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar to ANI.
( With inputs from ANI )
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