Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik named among Time’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2024 – Firstpost
Malik, who had won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finds his name in the elite list for leading a tough battle against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually harassing several female athletes.
Indian Olympic medalist wrestler Sakshi Malik was included in the Time among the magazine’s “100 most influential people” in 2024.
Malik, who had won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finds his name in the elite list for putting up a tough battle against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused of sexually harassing several female athletes. .
“Proud to be included in the #TIME100 2024 list,”
Malik wrote
in an article on the microblogging site X, formerly Twitter.
Malik was one of the key faces at last year’s protest by some of the country’s top wrestlers against Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan, along with Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Bajrang Punia and of two-time world championship bronze medalist Vinesh Phogat.
“This fight is no longer reserved only for Indian female wrestlers. This is for the girls of India whose voices have been silenced time and time again,” Sakshi said of the movement she helped spark.
She had announced her retirement from the sport in December after Brij Bhushan’s aide Sanjay Singh was elected the new WFI president months after the former resigned from Indian wrestling’s top post.
The Anurag Thakur-led sports ministry had suspended the Sanjay-led WFI executive committee soon after the December 21 elections, handing over responsibility to an ad hoc body appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
However, the Ministry of Sports recently handed over responsibility for the sport in the country to the WFI following pressure from United World Wrestling, the body responsible for managing the sport globally.
Read also | Sakshi and Vinesh on WFI taking back control of wrestling
Besides Malik, Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, British-Indian actor Dev Patel and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are among the other Indians or people of Indian origin on the list.
