Wrestler Satender Malik assaults referee Jagbir Singh during CWG trials, gets life ban

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.