Sakhi Malik had etched her name in gold after becoming the first Indian woman to bag an Olympic medal in wrestling. The year was 2016 and the place was Rio de Janeiro. The wrestler was the dark horse in the 58kg weight class. From getting knocked out in the quarter-finals to beating the then reigning Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan 8-5, she had a roller-coaster ride in Rio. But the journey to the Olympic podium was not easy. It was full of sacrifices, many sleepless nights and hard work.
The 28-year-old recently made her appearance on 2016 Olympics badminton silver medallist PV Sindhu’s new show “The A-Game by PV Sindhu”. She shared the story of her Olympics bronze medal victory.
She revealed that the three months international camp played a significant role in her achievement. Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had organised a three months camp for Olympic-bound wrestlers ahead of the games. The Haryana-born wrestler mentioned that training abroad helped her learn new techniques and she gained tons of experience training with world-class wrestlers.
Sakshi stated that she had become a wrestler to fulfill her simple dream of sitting on an aeroplane. Gradually, she came to know about the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, the Olympics, and the prominence that these competitions had in an athlete’s life.
Disclosing her mindset before the Rio Olympics in 2016, Sakshi Malik said:
“To tell you like a year or a year and a half before the Olympics, I was just focused on Rio, and that’s all that I could see all day. It was the first thought in my mind when I got up, and I had that in mind that I have to get there and win a medal.””I had sleepless nights, and in the mornings, I used to train. We had training camps abroad where I got a lot of variation with respect to partners from different countries who were medalists at the world and the Olympics level themselves. I had a chance to have a few wrestling matches with these top wrestlers. I learned a lot of new techniques and gained a lot of experience as well,” she continued.
Sakshi is currently part of the ongoing women’s national camp in Lucknow. She is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the 62kg weight category. The Olympic medallist faces stern competition from teenager Sonam Malik, and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Geeta Phogat who is making a comeback to wrestling.