'Won't apologise for slapping Jagbir, have done nothing wrong': Satender Malik

Satender Malik has refused to apologise to international referee Jagbir Singh for abusing and hitting him during the selection trials for the Birmingham CWG here on Tuesday. The burly 125kg freestyle wrestler has, in fact, decided to quit wrestling and focus on his Air Force job with the Indian Armed Forces, if the decision to impose life ban on him wasn't overturned by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). A day after his photos and videos hitting Jagbir went viral on social media, Satender – who hails from Haryana's Mokhra village – spoke exclusively with TOI on Wednesday, narrating the sequence of events which led to his physical assault on the referee.

Satender also squarely put the blame for his violent outburst on 'Jury of Appeals' chairman Satyadev Malik, who incidentally recused himself from reviewing the video challenge on the pretext that it could lead to 'conflict of interest' charge against him since he belonged to the same village as that of the wrestler. "These referees and judges have destroyed my life. They have finished my wrestling career.

I won't apologise to them for what they have done to me. Virender Malik (who was officiating the final bout between Satender and Mohit Grewal), Satyadev and Jagbir have all conspired to deny me a chance to compete at the Birmingham CWG. I was clearly the winner with a 4-1 lead after I was awarded a technical point with 18 seconds left on the clock.

Mohit's coach's challenge to award two points for a takedown wasn't originally accepted. Suddenly, everything changed and Jagbir was called to review the video by the WFI officials present there and the referee awarded Mohit two points for takedown. I was declared the loser for no reason whatsoever," a livid Satender