Wrestler Sakshee Malikkh Misidentified As Vinesh Phogat Praising Brij Bhushan

A clipped interview of national-level wrestler Sakshee Malikkh has recently been shared on social media misidentifying her as wrestler Vinesh Phogat crediting Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Saran Singh for winning a gold medal.

The video is being shared as wrestlers such as Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia are sitting in protest at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar against the WFI chief accusing him of sexually harassing multiple female wrestlers.

Singh, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Pary MP from Uttar Pradesh, has remained a controversial figure over the years and earlier slapped a wrestler for confronting him on-stage in Jharkhand. The wrestlers, at a recent media interaction, made strong allegations against Singh and alleged that earlier attempts to file an FIR against the WFI president were roadblocked due to his strong political influence.

However, BOOM found that the video shows a clipped interview of Sakshee Malikkh where she can be seen talking about her first gold medal win in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and crediting the victory to Brij Bhushan Saran Singh as the WFI head.

A Twitter user named Adv. Ashutosh J. Dubey tweeted the video along with a picture of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha at Jantar Mantar saying, "Here is the same day video where Vinesh Phogat mentioned: All credit goes to WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh Ji."

Click here to view the tweet.

Fact Check

BOOM noticed that the date stamp in the video is August 6, 2022, and a related keyword search for this led us to the same video uploaded on NDTV's official YouTube channel.

The description with the video says, "Sakshi Malik won her first Commonwealth Games gold medal on Friday and she was elted with her performance. She told NDTV's Rica Roy about her strategy of watching the opponent closely before going for the attack."

During the interview, when Malikkh was asked about her view about the success of Indian wrestling in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, she replies with, "We have done a great performance today. One or two more gold could come - I feel (sad) about it. But leaving it, we will do better next time."

She further continues saying, "A lot of this credit goes to our president sir of Indian wrestling federation. Cause, now a lot of tournaments happening in India and the competitions there have increased so much that it feels like fighting in India is tough. It feels that we can do better when outside. We are working too hard for the victory in the Indian tournaments. So, the credits go to the wrestling federation and Brij Bhushan sir for uplifting the wrestling to such a high level."