Sakshi Malik miffed by Haryana Government's "false promises"

Sakshi Malik
Sakshi Malik: Not happy with broken promises

What’s the story?

Sakshi Malik, India’s golden of wrestling vent out her anger upon the Haryana Government for failing to deliver on promises. In a scathing attack on social media, Sakshi Malik accused asked whether the promises were just eyewash in front of the media or not.

In case you didn’t know...

Sakshi Malik was one of the few success stories for India at the Rio Olympics in 2016. The wrestler became the darling of the nation when she delivered a bronze medal in the 58 kg category of Women’s wrestling, giving India its first medal at the event.

In doing so, she became the first ever Indian female wrestler to grab a medal at the Olympics. In what was a frustrating campaign, India would go on to win one more medal at the Rio Olympics when PV Sindhu won silver in the Women’s Singles in Badminton.

Upon her return to the country, Sakshi was showered with praise, honours and financial rewards for her exceptional feat. The girl from Rohtak was promised a sum of Rs. 2.5 crore in addition to some land in the state as well.

A gold would have fetched her Rs. 6 crores while a silver would have helped her bag Rs. 4 crores, as promised by her State Government.

Additionally, she was made the brand ambassador of the ‘Beti-Padhao-Beti-Bachao’ government program in her state which promotes the education of the girl child.

The heart of matter

Malik, however, is yet to receive the proposed amount from the Haryana government and now feels that the promises were only made as a publicity stunt by the Haryana government.

The wrestler had earlier been awarded Rs. 60 lakhs by the Indian Railways, Rs. 20 lakh by the Indian Olympic association for her performance. She was also promised a sum nearing Rs. 1 lakh by Salman Khan (who was one of the Olympic ambassadors for India at Rio). Her own sponsors JSW also handed out a sum of Rs. 15 lakh to the athlete.

Sportskeeda’s take

Sakshi Malik has a right to be miffed about the promises that have not been kept by the Haryana government. And such callous attitude would do nothing but dissuade athletes away from sports.

This is also not a surprising turn of events as the Haryana government has already built up a reputation of not keeping their word when it comes to financial rewards. Kuldeep Singh, the coach of Indian women's wrestling team coach voiced his disappointment for a similar reason.

The Government has also been accused of not paying the Phogat sisters in the last four years.

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Edited by Staff Editor