Wrestler Satender Malik assaults referee Jagbir Singh during CWG trials, gets life ban
New Delhi, May 17: In an unprecedented incident, Services' wrestler Satender Malik launched a physical assault on referee Jagbir Singh after losing the 125kg final during the Commonwealth Games trials, prompting the national federation to impose a life ban on him, here on Tuesday.
The Air Force wrestler was leading 3-0 with just a 18 seconds left in the deciding bout when Mohit effected a 'take-down' move and also pushed Satender out of the mat for another point.
However, referee Virender Malik did not award two points to Mohit for the 'takedown' move and gave only one point for the pushout.
The decision upset Mohit, who requested for a challenge.
Satyadev Malik, the jury for the bout, excused himself from the decision for the sake of impartiality, since he belonged to the Mokhra village from where Satender also comes.
Senior referee Jagbir Singh was requested to look into the challenge and with the help of TV replays, he ruled that Mohit should be given three points.
The score became 3-3 and remained like that till the end, and eventually Mohit was declared winner on criteria since he had scored the last point of the bout.
Satender lost his cool, walked across to Mat A where Ravi Dahiya and Aman were locked in the 57kg final, went straight to Jagbir, and began to assault him.
He first abused Jagbir and then slapped him, who lost his balance and fell on the ground.
The 57kg bout was stopped as the incident created a furore inside the KD Jadhav hall at the IG stadium. Hundreds of fans, officials and participants were shocked to witness a scene like that.
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) officials managed to send Satender out of the hall and restarted the bout. Everything was happening right before the eyes of WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was sitting on the dias.
"We have imposed life ban on Satender Malik. The decision was taken by WFI President," WFI's assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told PTI.
"The referees officiating that bout will also be called for an explanation that why points were not awarded to Mohit when it was clear that the take-down move was clean. Why did they let the situation go out of hand."
A visibly shaken Jagbir Singh said, "I had no inkling that he would do something like that."
A Class One referee since 2013, Jagbir added, "I had nothing to do with this bout. I had officiated the 97kg and 65kg finals and gave the ruling only after I was asked to do it."
"It's up to WFI what action it wants to take against him."
Satyadev Malik told PTI, "I wanted to stay away from the decision making since we live close by. In international wrestling also, if the wrestler is from India, a jury from India can't officiate that bout."
"So to avoid any situation where I am accused of bias, I stayed away. This is really unexpected because Satender is usually a very calm guy," Satyadev, who was also jury of appeal for the tournament, said.
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Water crisis hits Ballari’s jeans industry as over 100 units shut temporarily, hundreds left jobless
Ballari: A severe water shortage in Karnataka's Ballari is crippling the region’s jeans industry, leading to the temporary closure of over 100 jeans units and leaving hundreds of workers unemployed. The crisis, which has been ongoing for over a month, has reportedly left the industry in turmoil as many units that are still running are using tanker water, which is expensive.
Ballari, often referred to as the "Jeans Capital" of India, is home to 732 jeans production units, which rely heavily on water-intensive washing processes. The industry association has requested the administration to provide sufficient water to run the units, as reported by The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
All the 732 jeans factories in Ballari depend on fifteen washing units to finish their products. Although water shortages have been a recurring issue every summer for the past decade, no permanent solution has been found, the report added.
The situation has reached a critical point, with many units halting production due to the skyrocketing cost of water. Industry associations have appealed to the local administration for a more reliable water supply, but their repeated requests have largely been ignored by both officials and political leaders.
An owner of one of the units noted that summer started 15 days early this year which exacerbated the situation. “Instead of waiting and paying more money to wash jeans products, some owners have shut their units for four to five months. This has left a large number of people unemployed,” TNIE quoted the owner as saying.
Meanwhile, owners of the jeans washing units are pinning their hopes on the apparel park planned by the Karnataka state government, which is expected to provide a dedicated water pipeline from the Tungabhadra Dam to address the ongoing water shortage.
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