Rio Olympics bronze medalist woman wrestler Sakshi Malik has secured a silver medal for herself in the 60 kg category after she reached the final at the Asian Wrestling Championships on Friday. The 24-year-old wrestler defeated Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan to enter the final. Malik had advanced to the semi-final after beating Uzbek grappler Nabira Esenbaeva 6-2 in the quarter-final bout.
Now, Saskhi Malik will face Olympic gold medalist Japan’s Risako Kawai in the final. She had previously won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the bronze medal at the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha.
With Malik set to fight for the gold medal, here’s all you need to know about her:
- Sakshi had become the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics when she clinched the
bronze in the 58kg category at Rio Games. - She hails from the Mokhra village, near Rohtak in Haryana. Her father Sukhbir Malik works with the
Delhi Transport Corporation while her mother Sudesh is a government employee. - Sakshi Malik took up wrestling when she was only 9 years old. She started training under Ishwar Dahiya.
- In 2010, at the age of 19, she brought home bronze in the 59 kg category in the Junior World
Championships. - The year 2014 proved to be rewarding for Sakshi as she struck gold at the Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament.
- A daily routine in Sakshi’s is 500 sit-ups and intensive training. She is not into movies or chilling out with friends. For her, it’s about sleep and spending some quiet time at home.
- She is a part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat.
- Malik is currently employed with Indian Railways in the commercial department of its Delhi division, in the Northern Railway zone. Following her bronze medal win at Rio, she was promoted from senior clerk to gazetted officer rank.
