Sakshi Malik | The wrestler who never stopped fighting Premium

The Hindu profiles on Sakshi Malik | Sakshi Malik's journey from a bus conductor's daughter to India's first female Olympic medalist and her fight for justice for women wrestlers.

When the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) show-caused Geeta Phogat for indiscipline and barred her from participating in an Olympic Games qualifying event, scheduled in Istanbul in May 2016, followers of the sport believed it was a big blow to India’s chances of securing a quota place for the Rio Games.

Even though Olympian Geeta (58kg) — who shot into fame by winning the Delhi Commonwealth Games gold in 2010 — and her sister Babita (53kg), another Commonwealth Games and Worlds medallist, were good prospects, the WFI had to take strict action for the embarrassing moment India had to endure at the international stage. The two sisters had forfeited their inconsequential repechage round matches after failing to qualify for the Olympics in the qualifier in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

However, a less-known Sakshi Malik, who was Geeta’s replacement, and Vinesh, a cousin of the Phogat sisters who took the place of Babita, did not disappoint by claiming two quota places for the country.

Sakshi, who was not able to grab an Olympics spot in a previous qualifier in Astana, Kazakhstan, in March, grabbed her second chance with both hands to make it to her maiden Olympics. From beating the famous Geeta Phogat in the 2015 Pro Wrestling League to take her place in the team for the Olympics qualifier, Sakshi had come quite a distance. But she was determined to make it big in future.

In the Istanbul qualifier, Sakshi, whose claim to fame so far was a silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal in the 2015 Asian championships in Qatar, defeated Spanish wrestler Irene Garcia and Romania’s Kateryna Zhydachevska to reach the last-four stage. She fought back to tie the scores at 10-10 with 2012 World champion Lan Zhang of China and win on criteria in the semifinals. Her entry into the title clash ensured Sakshi a ticket to Rio.

A gritty fighter, Sakshi — who came from a humble background with her father working as a bus conductor — did not stop here. After 12 frustrating days for India at the Rio Games as its shooters and boxers failed spectacularly, Sakshi’s bronze medal came as a pleasant surprise on August 18, 2016.

Sakshi’s success in Rio was a story of extraordinary fightbacks. She got the better of some top wrestlers, including Sweden’s World championships medallist Johanna Mattsson, Mongolia’s Asian medallist Purevdorjiin Orkhon and the decorated Kyrgyzstan wrestler and the then Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova (in the bronze medal match) to open the country’s account. She was later joined by shuttler P.V. Sindhu, who won a silver, as the two women saved India the blushes in the 2016 Olympics.