Wrestler Vinesh Phogat returns Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award over WFI election row

World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat on Tuesday wrote an emotional letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying she was returning her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award to the government.

Her move comes less than a week after Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling and Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri, protesting against the election of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh-loyalist Sanjay Singh as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president.

In her letter, which she has posted on X, Phogat asked whether women wrestlers were made only to grace government advertisements. The wrestler said she was returning the awards so that they don't become a "burden on the path of living with dignity".