Sakshi Malik

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sakshi Malik

• According to Sakshi Malik, she began her wrestling training at the age of 12. She has been coached by Ishwar Dahiya at the Chotu Ram Stadium in Rohtak, Haryana. In an official document submitted to the Sports Authority of India, Sakshi Malik mentioned that she was also trained under Indian wrestler Mandeep Singh.

• In a conversation with a media house, Sakshi Malik narrated that during her training period, she had to fight with the local boys as she belongs to a region where the sport is not for girls. She added in the same conversation that once, when her coach, Ishwar Dahiya, picked her to train under his guidance, he had to face protests from locals.

• In an interview with a media house, Sakshi said that her Silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games is her personal favourite.

  

• Sakshi Malik participated at the Junior World Championships in the 59 kg category in 2010 and won a Bronze medal. Shen then earned a Gold medal in 2014 after she participated in the Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament. In August 2014, she was the winner of a Silver medal at the Commonwealth Games. In 2015, she participated in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha and won a bronze medal.

• In May 2016, she qualified for the Rio Olympics after defeating China’s Zhang Lan in the Olympic World Qualifying Tournament.

• In 2016, the Indian Railways appointed Sakshi Malik to the commercial department of its Delhi division soon after she won a bronze medal for India. Later, she was elevated from senior clerk rank to gazetted officer rank after she won a bronze medal in Rio In September 2016, the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) appointed Sakshi Malik as its wrestling director.

• In a media interview, Sakshi Once revealed that she began practising wrestling at the age of twelve while watching her grandfather, Badlu Ram practising wrestling. She added in the same discussion that it was her father who motivated her to opt for wrestling as a career.

• On 17 August 2016, she won a Bronze at the Rio Olympics by defeating Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kazakhstan and became the 1st Indian female wrestler & India’s 4th female athlete ever to win an Olympic medal.

  

• In 2016, Sakshi Malik was honoured with monetary cash prizes worth ₹5.7 crores (US$750,000) by the Indian Railways, the Indian Olympic Association, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Government of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and from political party Indian National Lok Dal after she won several medals at international wrestling championships. She was granted 500 yd² of land in her name by the Government of Haryana after she won several medals in wrestling for India.

• In 2022, at the Tunis Ranking Series event organised in Tunisia, Sakshi Malik won a bronze medal.

• Apart from being a wrestler, Sakshi Malik is also known for her beauty and sense of style, and she has often walked down the runway for various fashion designers.

  

• Sakshi Malik is a part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program along with her fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari, and Geeta Phogat.

• Being a noted sports personality, Sakshi Malik regularly practices yoga. She likes touring foreign places in her leisure time.

• Several prominent Indian magazines and tabloids often feature Sakshi Malik on the cover.

  

• Sakshi Malik has over 573k followers on Twitter, where she frequently shares her pictures and videos to keep her fans updated about her activities and sports participation.

• Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling during a press conference on 21 December 2023 following Sanjay Singh’s victory in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) election; Sanjay is considered to be Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh‘s aide. While talking about the same, Sakshi said that she was disappointed with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for not appointing a female candidate as the president. ^[4]Hindustan Times