When the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) show-caused Geeta Phogat for indiscipline and barred her from collaborating in an Olympic Games qualifying occasion, scheduled in Istanbul in May 2016, followers of the game believed it was an enormous blow to India’s probabilities of securing a quota place for the Rio Games.
Even although Olympian Geeta (58kg) — who shot into fame by profitable the Delhi Commonwealth Games gold in 2010 — and her sister Babita (53kg), one other Commonwealth Games and Worlds medallist, had been good prospects, the WFI needed to take strict motion for the embarrassing second India needed to endure on the worldwide stage. The two sisters had forfeited their inconsequential repechage spherical matches after failing to qualify for the Olympics within the qualifier in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
However, a less-known Sakshi Malik, who was Geeta’s alternative, and Vinesh, a cousin of the Phogat sisters who took the place of Babita, didn’t disappoint by claiming two quota locations for the nation.
Sakshi, who was not in a position to seize an Olympics spot in a earlier qualifier in Astana, Kazakhstan, in March, grabbed her second likelihood with each fingers to make it to her maiden Olympics. From beating the well-known Geeta Phogat within the 2015 Pro Wrestling League to take her place within the workforce for the Olympics qualifier, Sakshi had come fairly a distance. But she was decided to make it large in future.
In the Istanbul qualifier, Sakshi, whose declare to fame thus far was a silver medal within the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal within the 2015 Asian championships in Qatar, defeated Spanish wrestler Irene Garcia and Romania’s Kateryna Zhydachevska to succeed in the last-four stage. She fought again to tie the scores at 10-10 with 2012 World champion Lan Zhang of China and win on standards within the semifinals. Her entry into the title conflict ensured Sakshi a ticket to Rio.
A gritty fighter, Sakshi — who got here from a humble background along with her father working as a bus conductor — didn’t cease right here. After 12 irritating days for India on the Rio Games as its shooters and boxers failed spectacularly, Sakshi’s bronze medal got here as a nice shock on August 18, 2016.
Story of fightbacks
Sakshi’s success in Rio was a narrative of extraordinary fightbacks. She received the higher of some prime wrestlers, together with Sweden’s World championships medallist Johanna Mattsson, Mongolia’s Asian medallist Purevdorjiin Orkhon and the adorned Kyrgyzstan wrestler and the then Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova (within the bronze medal match) to open the nation’s account. She was later joined by shuttler P.V. Sindhu, who received a silver, as the 2 girls saved India the blushes within the 2016 Olympics.
Sakshi, who honed her expertise beneath coach Ishwar Dahiya on the Chhoturam Academy of Rohtak in Haryana, burst into tears as she turned the fourth lady from the nation to win an Olympic medal. The image of her being carried on coach Kuldeep Malik’s shoulders throughout a victory lap on the mat stays probably the most iconic moments of India’s journey within the Olympics.
“Before the Olympics, I used to visualise myself on the podium in Rio. But the way my coach (Kuldeep Malik) carried me on his shoulders was unexpected. I was in tears and went through mixed feelings,” Sakshi, wanting again at her achievement, stated earlier. “It was my first Olympics and I wanted to do well. But I surprised myself when I landed a medal.”
Sakshi’s feat of turning into the primary Indian lady wrestler to win an Olympic medal stunned all, together with a number of pundits of the game. It additionally introduced cheers to the wrestling fraternity, which had seen an disagreeable off-the-mat duel between Narsingh Yadav and Sushil Kumar for the boys’s freestyle 74kg spot in Rio and the eventual suspension of the previous resulting from doping.
Sakshi is a member of the unique membership of ‘Magnificent Seven’ Indian girls who have received particular person Olympic medals. The others within the membership are weightlifters Ok. Malleswari (2000) and S. Mirabai Chanu (2021); shuttlers Saina Nehwal (2012) and P.V. Sindhu (2016, 2021); and boxers M.C. Mary Kom (2012) and Lovlina Borgohain (2021).
Sakshi carried ahead a legacy, which noticed the legendary Master Chandgi Ram selling girls’s wrestling and the Phogat sisters breaking the mould to popularise the game within the conventional northern belt, as she broke the barrier by claiming Olympic glory.
Coming again from her lack of type and a short stint as a tv knowledgeable through the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Sakshi once more asserted her class on the mat by profitable her maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham final 12 months.
Married to a household of wrestlers, along with her husband Satyawart Kadian and father-in-law Satyawan being Arjuna Award winners, Sakshi has a life that at all times revolve round wrestling. It is unsurprising that she got here out courageously when it was time to struggle for ‘justice’ earlier this 12 months. Sakshi was one of many three most recognisable faces, together with Worlds and Olympics medallist Bajrang Punia and double Worlds medallist Vinesh, who led the wrestlers’ protest over alleged sexual harassment and different fees in opposition to former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Demand for safer surroundings
Sakshi has been vocal in regards to the alleged harassment of girls wrestlers within the nation and in her calls for for a safer surroundings for the women who take to the game. Snapshots of her tearful bytes to the press at a makeshift shelter on the protest web site on Jantar Mantar Road in Delhi, stone-faced interviews to media and march to Haridwar with an intention to immerse her medals within the Ganga have shaken the conscience of a nation sometimes and have compelled the authorities involved to take noticeable motion in opposition to a strong politician.
Following the election of latest office-bearers of the WFI earlier this month, which was dominated by candidates from the Brij Bhushan camp, together with the newly elected president Sanjay Singh, a teary-eyed Sakshi retaining her sneakers on the desk throughout a press convention in Delhi whereas saying her retirement from worldwide wrestling emerged as a heart-wrenching picture. This second adopted by the return of awards by Bajrang and Vinesh raised the depth of the difficulty prompting the Union Sports Ministry to take measures for the honest working of wrestling affairs within the nation.
Like her decided performances on the mat, the 31-year-old Sakshi has been fighting forcefully for a trigger nearer to her coronary heart. Only time will inform how far she succeeds in her mission to make wrestling arenas within the nation safer for ladies trainees.
