A Story From Sakshi's Village

Young pehelwans in Mokhra village are disappointed at the way their poster girl Sakshi Malik and the other wrestlers are being treated

- Shreya Basak and Swati Shikha

INSIDE a dilapidated building named Shankar Akhara, young pehelwans (wrestlers)-boys and girls-are sweating it out on blue wrestling mats. The ceiling fans fail to provide them with any relief from the June humidity, but that is not a deterrent for the young wrestlers. Kushti (wrestling) is not a sport in Mokhra village in Rohtak district of Haryana; it's a passion and an emotion.

Most doors in the village open to a bunch of medals hanging from cracked and rustic mud walls. Beaming with pride are the trophies that are lined up on wooden shelves. The village has been producing several wrestlers of national and international repute for years. The most prominent poster girl for the young wrestlers is Olympian Sakshi Malik. Mokhra is her native village. As a child, when she was about 3-4 years old, Malik would come to the Shankar Akhara along with other children. That probably was her first association with wrestling.

Years later, after she won the Bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when Malik arrived in Mokhra, the village was elated. But these days, there is disappointment. The wrestlers and coaches are upset with the way Malik and other wrestlers, who have been protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for months, are being treated. But they go about their practice hoping the protesting wrestlers will get justice.