Sakshi Malik Replies To Show Cause Notice, Says Went Home For Raksha Bandhan

Sakshi Malik admitted her mistake and told the Wrestling Federation India (WFI) that she went home for the festival of Raksha Bandhan, after being issued a show cause notice for leaving the national camp without permission. According to WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar, Sakshi (62kg), Seema Bisla (50kg) and Kiran (76kg), who had recently qualified for the World Championship, told the Federation that they had gone home for the festival of Raksha Bandhan. Vinod Tomar also said that all three wrestlers have now been reinstated in the national camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Lucknow.

"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," Tomar told IANS.

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.

(With IANS inputs)