How Sakshi Malik Wrestled Her Way To Clinch An Olympic Medal!

Sakshi Malik spills the beans on her winning secrets.

- Aishwarya P. Vaidya

She came, she saw and she conquered... Haryana’s 24-year-old Sakshi Malik became a household name after claiming a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Sakshi is the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal and only the fourth female athlete from the country to climb to the podium at the biggest sporting event in the world.

In a male-dominated sport like wrestling, the bronze queen’s journey from Rohtak to Rio is truly inspiring.

Here, the young girl talks about her wrestling journey, fitness mantras and future goals.

Excerpts from the interview…

Why did you choose wrestling as a profession?

My grandfather was a wrestler, and the way he would talk to me about the game got me interested in it.

Also, when other wrestlers came back from their travels and spoke about their flight journeys, I wanted to fly too. These are the two reasons that got me into wrestling.

You started training when you were 12. Tell us about your early years in wrestling and the struggle from thereon…

I always wanted to be different. From an early age, I was told ‘You have to fight, fight and fight to achieve something’. I started wrestling when I was 12 and trained under Ishwar Dahiya, and as I progressed, I moved on to different coaches.

When I started out, there were only five-six girls, as a result of which I had to train mostly with the boys, and I was the youngest of them all. But now, there are many girls in wrestling. I used to train for more than six hours a day – three hours each in the morning and evening.

Earlier, people used to taunt saying, ‘