Sports News Desk !!! Sakshi Malik (English: Sakshi Malik, born- 3 September 1992, Rohtak, Haryana) is an Indian female wrestler. She has the distinction of being the first female wrestler to win an Olympic medal for India. Sakshi Malik won the bronze medal in women’s wrestling at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sakshi won this medal in the 58 kg weight category of women’s freestyle wrestling. Earlier, she won a silver medal representing India at the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow. She also represented India in the 2014 World Wrestling Championship. Recently, she won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, 2022 held in Birmingham, England. In the final match, Sakshi defeated Canada’s Anagonzalez 4-4 via by fall.
Introduction
Sakshi Malik was born on 3 September 1992 in a village named ‘Mokhra’ in Rohtak, Haryana. Her father’s name is Sukhbir Malik, who works as a bus conductor in ‘Delhi Transport Corporation’ (DTC), Delhi, while her mother Sudesh Malik is an Anganwadi supervisor in Rohtak. Sakshi started wrestling at the age of just 12. Her mother did not want her daughter to become a wrestler. She believed that wrestlers have less intelligence. In Sakshi’s family, her grandfather was also a wrestler. She is following in his footsteps.
Practice
Sakshi Malik practices for 6 to 7 hours every day. For the last one year, she was staying in Rohtak’s ‘SAI’ (Sports Authority of India) hostel to prepare for the Olympics. She had to follow a very strict diet chart to control her weight. Despite the rigorous practice, she has scored good marks in studies. Because of wrestling, there is a pile of gold, silver and bronze medals in her room.
Bronze winner in Rio Olympics-2016
In the women’s wrestling event of Rio Olympics 2016 held in Brazil, Sakshi Malik won the bronze medal for India by defeating Kyrgyzstan’s wrestler Aisuluu Tynybekova. In the first period of the match, she was trailing 0-5 against Kyrgyzstan’s wrestler Aisuluu Tynybekova. After trailing initially in the second period, Sakshi made a strong comeback and won the second set 8-5 to win the bronze medal and put a medal in India’s bag.
first period
In the first period of the match, the Kyrgyz player grabbed Sakshi’s leg and pulled her, thus scoring two points. A few seconds later, she scored another point. She scored two more points in the same move. Due to this, Sakshi fell behind 0-5 in the first period.
Second Period
The first minute of this period passed without any score. In the second minute, Sakshi scored two points by throwing her opponent on the mat. A few seconds later, she scored two more points in the same move and brought the match to 4-5. When Sakshi was left behind by just one point, the Kyrgyz player looked a little restless and taking advantage of the opportunity, Sakshi immediately scored another point and brought the score to 5-5. After that, in the last moment of the third minute, Sakshi scored two points with another brilliant move and won the match 7-5, but the coaching staff of Kyrgyzstan objected to that last move and appealed for a review. After watching the replay, the judges gave the decision in favor of Sakshi and due to the unsuccessful review of the opponent, an additional point was given to Sakshi. As a result, the final score was 8-5 in favor of Sakshi.[2]
Commonwealth Games, 2022
Sakshi Malik has won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games, 2022 held in Birmingham, England. In the final match of the women’s 62 kg weight category, Sakshi Malik defeated Anagonzalez of Canada 4-4 by fall. In the first round, Anagonzalez took a 4-0 lead against Sakshi by scoring two points each through take down twice. In such a situation, it seemed that the match could slip out of Sakshi Malik’s hands; but Sakshi scored two more points from take down at the beginning of the second half and then pinned the Canadian player with a great move and won the gold medal. After winning the gold, Sakshi Malik could not control her emotions and her eyes were moist during the medal ceremony on the podio. This is Sakshi Malik’s first gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. Earlier, she has won silver and bronze medals in the Commonwealth Games. Sakshi Malik had secured a ticket to the final by defeating England’s Kelsey Barnes in the quarter-finals and Cameroon’s Etain Ngole 10-0 in the semi-finals.
Achievements
Gold Medal – 2011 – Junior National, Jammu Bronze Medal – 2011 – Junior Asian, Jakarta Silver Medal -2011 – Senior National, Gonda Gold Medal – 2011 – All India University, Sirsa Gold Medal – 2012 – Junior National, Deoghar Gold Medal – 2012 – Junior Asian, Kazakhstan Bronze Medal – 2012 – Senior National, Gonda Gold Medal – 2012 – All India University, Amravati Gold Medal – 2013 – Senior National, Kolkata Gold Medal – 2014 – All India University, Meerut Bronze Medal – 2016 – Rio Olympics, Brazil Gold Medal – 2017 – Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, Johannesburg Gold Medal – 2022 – Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England
