Goonga Pahalwan Virender Singh to return Padma Shri award

Wrestler Virender Singh, who is popularly known as the 'Goonga Pahalwan', pledged to return his Padma Shri award to express his solidarity with wrestler Sakshi Malik, who announced her retirement after Sanjay Singh, an aide of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was elected as the president of the federation.

Sakshi, a 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist, was one of the prime faces in the wrestlers' protest against former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

"I will also return the Padma Shri for my sister and the country's daughter, Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, I am proud of your daughter and my sister Sakshee Malikkh... But I would also request the top players of the country to also give their decision," Virender Singh, a three-time Deaflympics gold medallist wrote in a post on X, tagging Sachin Tendulkar and Neeraj Chopra.

Virender's post came a day after Bajrang Punia, India's most feted male wrestler, left his Padma Shri medallion on Delhi's Kartavya path on Friday after writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. Later, the Delhi police collected the medallion from the footpath.

"When the women wrestlers are not given due respect, I do not deserve this honour either. We were on the road for 40 days, but the promises made by the government have not been fulfilled. Our fight is not against the government but against an individual. I believe in the judiciary but, with what is happening, I can't keep faith in the system," Punia told reporters on Friday.

Virender was conferred the Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian award, in 2021. In 2015, he received the Arjuna Award.