Sakshi Malik (born 3 September 1992) is an Indian

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

. At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, 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 the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat,

Babita Kumari Babita Kumari Phogat (born 20 November 1989) is an Indian wrestler, who won the gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also won silver medals at 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wres ...

and

Geeta Phogat Geeta Phogat (born 15 December 1988) is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Summer Games. Per ...

.JSW Sports Excellence Program
additional. Malik had previously won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, and the bronze medal at the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Early life

Malik was born on 3 September 1992 in Mokhra village of

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 ...

's Rohtak district to Sukhbir, a bus conductor with

Delhi Transport Corporation Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is the main public transport operator of Delhi. It is the largest CNG-powered bus service operator in the world. History The Delhi Transport Corporation was incorporated in May 1948 by the Indian governme ...

, and Sudesh Malik, a supervisor at a local

health clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...

. According to her father, she was motivated to take up wrestling from seeing her grandfather Badlu Ram, who was also a wrestler. She began training in wrestling at the age of 12 under a coach, Ishwar Dahiya, at an

Akhara Akhara or Akhada (Sanskrit and Hindi: अखाड़ा, shortened to ''khara'' Hindi: खाड़ा) is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists o ...

in Chhotu Ram Stadium,

Rohtak Rohtak () is a city and the administrative headquarters of the Rohtak district in the Indian state of Haryana. It lies north-west of New Delhi and south of the state capital Chandigarh on NH 9(old NH 10). Rohtak forms a part of the National ...

. However, there were four people out there namely, Kuldeep Malik, Ishwar Dahiya, Mandeep Singh, and Rajbir Singh who claimed themselves as the coach of Sakshi Malik. Later on, Sakshi herself submitted an affidavit with the sports department, informing that Ishwar Dahiya and Mandeep Singh are her coaches.

Career

Malik's first success as a professional wrestler in the international arena came in 2010 at the Junior World Championships where she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg freestyle event. At the 2014 Dave Schultz International Tournament, she won gold in the 60 kg category. And after that, she never stopped and maintained her passion and dedication to the game.

2014

Malik began her campaign at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games winning her quarterfinal bout against Edwige Ngono Eyia of Cameroon by a 4–0 margin. In the semifinal, she faced Braxton Stone of Canada whom she defeated 3–1 to assure herself of a medal. Her opponent in the final was

Aminat Adeniyi Aminat Oluwafunmilayo Adeniyi (born 21 April 1993) is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She competed in the women's freestyle 58 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a gold medal. She has been the National Champion in Wrestling ...

of Nigeria who defeated her 4–0 in a closely contested bout. At the 2014 World Championships in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

, she faced Anta Sambou of Senegal in the Round of 16, and won the bout 4–1. She crashed out of the tournament after a 1–3 loss to

Petra Olli Petra Maarit Olli (born June 5, 1994) is a retired Finnish freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in the Women's freestyle 58 kg-event. In March 2016 Olli won her first European Championship gold ...

of Finland.

2015

At the 2015 Asian Championships in

, Qatar, in a total of five rounds in the 60 kg category, Malik battled through two rounds to finish in the third position and claim a bronze medal. In the first round, she faced Luo Xiaojuan of China but was beaten 4–5 by the fall verdict. She came back strongly in the second round to beat Munkhtuya Tungalag of Mongolia 13–0, before losing in the third round to Yoshimi Kayama of Japan. She was able to clinch the bronze medal in the fourth round, beating Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan.

2016

Malik qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics by defeating China's

Zhang Lan Zhang Lan (; 1872 – February 1955), courtesy name Biaofang (表方), was a Chinese political activist best known for being the chairman of the China Democratic League from its founding in 1941 until his death in 1955. Biography Zhang was bor ...

in the semifinal of the 58 kg category at the Olympic World Qualifying Tournament in May 2016. At the Olympics, she won her Round of 32 bout against Sweden's Johanna Mattsson and Round of 16 bout against Moldova's Mariana Cherdivara. After losing to the eventual finalist Valeria Koblova of Russia in the quarterfinal, she qualified for the repechage round where she defeated Pürevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia in her first bout. She won the bronze medal after an 8–5 victory over the reigning Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova of

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

, despite trailing 0–5 at one stage, in the repechage medal playoff, and became India's first female wrestler to win an Olympic medal.

2017

Sakshi Malik represented 'Colors Delhi Sultans' in the second edition of the Pro Wrestling League held in January 2017. She has also been featured in the women's day campaign called #EveryWomanStrong for her sponsor JSW Group.

2022

In 2022, she competed at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey. She won the bronze medal in her event at the 2022 Tunis Ranking Series event held in Tunis, Tunisia. She then went on to win the gold medal at

2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Personal life

Malik is currently employed with Indian Railways in the commercial department of its Delhi division, in the

Northern Railway zone The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi. History Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, ...

and she is a part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program. Following her bronze medal win at Rio, she was promoted from senior clerk to gazetted officer rank. Malik has completed a master's degree in physical education from

Maharshi Dayanand University Maharshi Dayanand University, also called M.D. University or simply MDU, is a university in Rohtak, Haryana, India. Established in 1976 and named after the saint Dayananda Saraswati. Maharshi Dayanand University, ab initio established as Rohtak ...

in Rohtak. In September 2016, she was appointed as the university's wrestling director. In an interview shortly after the Rio Olympics, Malik said she was engaged to be married to a fellow wrestler

Satyawart Kadian Satyawart Kadian (born 9 November 1993) is an Indian wrestler. He first represented India at the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympics where he won a bronze medal in the boys' freestyle 100 kg category. He then represented India in the 2014 Comm ...

later in 2016. Satyawart Kadian is also an international level wrestler and has won medals in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

Marriage

Sakshi Malik married Indian freestyle wrestler

on April 2, 2017.

Awards and recognition

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

(2017) - fourth highest Indian national honour *

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna The Khel Ratna Award (), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award ( Major Dhyan Chand Sport Jewel Award), is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Governm ...

(2016) - highest sporting honour of India * Multiple cash prizes totaling over from the Indian Railways, the

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams ...

, the

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of youth affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Anurag Thakur is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports followed ...

, the Government of Delhi, various state governments, including

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

, from private bodies such as the

JSW Group JSW Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, based in Mumbai. It is led by Sajjan Jindal and part of the O.P. Jindal Group. The Group's diverse businesses include steel, energy, infrastructure, cement and paints, across India, the Unit ...

and from political groups including the

Indian National Lok Dal Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is a political party in India, in the state of Haryana. INLD was founded in October 1996 as Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) by Choudhary Devi Lal, who served as Deputy Prime Minister of India in the V.P. Singh's Cab ...

. *Promotion to gazetted officer rank by her employer, the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

. *Class 2 job offer from the Government of Haryana. *500 yd² land grant from the Government of Haryana.

In popular culture

In 2022, Malik appeared in a short documentary by German broadcaster

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

about women in wrestling, featuring young wrestler Payal Sharma. The documentary features Malik training Sharma on her way to be a professional wrestler, as well as a view into Indian culture with regards to traditionally held gender roles and, in particular, women in sports.

Biographies

References

External links

Sakshi Malik at International Wrestling Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malik, Sakshi Living people 1992 births Sportswomen from Haryana People from Rohtak Wrestlers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Wrestlers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Wrestlers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers of India Olympic bronze medalists for India Olympic medalists in wrestling Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Wrestlers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India Asian Wrestling Championships medalists Maharshi Dayanand University alumni