Sakshi Malik responds to WFI show cause notice, says went home for Rakshabandhan

Malik along with 24 other women wrestlers was debarred by WFI for leaving the camp without permission.

New Delhi: Olympic medal-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik has been reinstated in the national camp at SAI centre in Lucknow following her response to the Wrestler Federation of India to show cause notice issued to her.

Earlier, Malik along with 24 other women wrestlers was debarred by WFI for leaving the camp without permission.

Sakshi (62kg), Seema Bisla (50kg) and Kiran (76kg), all of whom have qualified for the upcoming World Wrestling Championships, were three of the 25 wrestlers who were suspended from the national camp by the WFI for the same reason.

Sakshi Malik

WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar on Monday told a news agency that all three wrestlers told the Federation that they had gone home for the festival of Rakshabandhan. "Sakshi said that she had gone home for the festival and admitted that she made a mistake by not taking due permission for it. Seema and Kiran also gave the same reasons. They have replied to the show cause notices and apologised. So now they are back in the camp," he said.

The trio's participation at the Worlds is no longer in doubt.

It had emerged on Saturday that 25 of the 45 wrestlers in the camp were barred by the WFI. They were supposed to assemble on August 16 after the Alexandre Medved event in Minsk, Belarus, but when the attendance was taken only 13 were present. Those who had taken exemptions from the camp had not been barred.

Tomar said that all the wrestlers have replied to the federation and have been told that they can re-join the camp. However, those who had their World Championships trials on Monday were not allowed to participate in the same. While the trials for the Olympic weight categories were held on July 28 in Lucknow, those for the non-Olympic categories were held on Monday.

The World Championships will be held in Kazakhstan from September 14 to 22.