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Journalism of Courage
Sakshi Malik became the fourth Indian to win a medal at the Summer Games and ended the agonising wait for a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics. The 23-year-old Rohtak girl made the country proud when she fought back from 0-5 down to beat Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan 8-5 in the bronze medal match. Sakshi won the medal match in the wrestling 58kg category in the most astonishing fashion after she qualified for the Repechage rounds of the women’s freestyle 58kg event. She made most out of her second chance to outplay the Mongolian wrestler Orkhon in the Rd 2 contest 12-3 to advance to the bronze-medal match.
Malik’s inspiring performance becomes all the more significant when we trace her journey from Rohtak to Rio. Hailing from a small village named Mokhra in the Rohtak District of Haryana, she began her training at the age of 12. Sakshi had to fight boys early in her career and face social issues with women not allowed to participate in wrestling in Haryana. She took up wrestling in 2002 under coach Ishwar Dahiya and since then has won several tournaments including gold medals in national tournaments.
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Her confidence was beaming by the age of 18 after she won the 2010 Junior World Championships in the 59-kg category. She then went on to grab International limelight having won Gold at the Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament (60-kg) in 2014. She also clinched bronze at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha.
She has now joined the likes of Mary Kom, Karman Malleswari, and Saina Nehwal to be part of the elite list of women who have earlier brought glory to India.
