Sonam Malik (born 15 April 2002) is an Indian woman

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sport ...

from Sonipat,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. She won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the National Games, and two gold medals at the World Cadet Wrestling Championship. She won a bronze in 62 kg in the

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially known as the 19th Asian Games (), also known as Hangzhou 2022, ( zh, c=杭州2022, p=Hángzhōu Èr líng èr èr), will be a multi-sport event celebrated in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Hangzhou will be the t ...

Personal life and background

Malik was born on 15 April 2002 in Madina village of

Sonipat Sonipat is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sonipat district of Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around from New Delhi. It is also around 214 km (128 miles) southwest o ...

. Her father and a cousin are wrestlers, who had influence in Malik's decision to pursue the sport. She joined for coaching under coach Ajmer Malik at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Sports Complex in her village. Facilities were inadequate to start with and the coaching academy did not have mats to practice on. The players had to train on the ground, but the ground would turn muddy in rainy days, forcing the players to practice on roads. In 2017, the wrestler's shoulder was injured in a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. The treatment continued for about one-and-half years. In addition to her sports career, Malik is currently pursuing her

bachelor of arts degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Professional career

Malik won a gold medal at the National School Games in 2016. In 2017, she won a silver in the Cadet National Championship, a gold in the World School Games, a bronze medal in the Cadet Asian Wrestling Championship and finished with a gold in the Cadet World Wrestling Championship. In 2018, she won bronze medals at the Cadet Asian Wrestling Championship and the Cadet World Wrestling Championship. In 2019, Malik again won the gold medal at the Cadet World Wrestling Championship. In 2020, she defeated 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist

Sakshi Malik Sakshi Malik (born 3 September 1992) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. She is a part of t ...

twice. The first of these came in January in trials for the Asian Championship and later for selection to the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in February. Malik won the silver medal in her event at the 2022 World Junior Wrestling Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria. She competed in the 62kg event at the

2022 World Wrestling Championships The 2022 World Wrestling Championships was the 17th edition of the World Wrestling Championships of combined events and was held between 10 and 18 September 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. The UWW Bureau approved the candidature of Belgrade, Serbia ...

held in Belgrade, Serbia. Malik won one of the bronze medals in the women's 62kg event at the

held in Hangzhou, China. She defeated Long Jia of China in her bronze medal match.

References

External links

* * 2002 births Living people Indian female sport wrestlers Female sport wrestlers from Haryana People from Sonipat district Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers for India Wrestlers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in wrestling Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games {{Authority control