Sports Minister Anurag Thakur refuses to comment on Bajrang Punia returning Padma Shri award

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur refused to comment on wrestler Bajrang Punia returning his Padma Shri award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Punia’s decision had come in the aftermath of Sanjay Singh winning the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections. Sanjay is a close associate and vocal advocate of outgoing chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexually abusing athletes including minors. On Friday, Olympic medallist Punia had reached the Kartavya Path in New Delhi to meet PM Modi and hand over a protest letter. On being stopped by the Delhi Police, he kept the Padma Shri medallion on a footpath and left. “I have already spoken enough. No more comments,” said Thakur in Bengaluru at the SAI centre on the sidelines of a function to honour eminent athletes and Asian Games medal winners. In a post on X, Punia had said, “I am returning my Padma Shri award to the Prime Minister. All I have to say is in this letter; this is my statement.” Sakshi Malik, who was one of the faces of the wrestlers’ protest against Brij Bhushan, announced that she is quitting wrestling on Thursday. A distraught and emotional Sakshi broke down during the press conference after the WFI election results. Meanwhile, Thakur also inaugurated new hostel facilities and a Synthetic Athletic Track at SAI. Thakur urged past champions to come forward and help the budding athletes to make a mark in international level competitions. “Our athletes won over 100 medals both in the Asian Games (in Hangzhou) and in the Asian Para Games. These stories need to be highlighted,” Thakur said. “Before they departed (for Asian Games) I had asked them whether they would be able to breach the 100-medal mark and they expressed collective confidence, and they did it too.” The Minister then asked the former champions to pitch in to sustain the success in future competitions. “We have won several major events. We had won the first Thomas Cup last year and we also saw a lot of success in hockey, athletics and other events. Now, the champions should ensure that they pass the knowledge and experience to the upcoming athletes so that we can better this effort in future.”