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Vinesh and Bajrang will win medals at Tokyo Olympics — Sakshi Malik
India's only female wrestler to win an Olympic medal, Sakshi Malik's chance to make into the squad for this year's Tokyo Olympics seems bleak. However, true to her spirit, she is cheerful and believes India will win the majority of medals at Tokyo in wrestling. She has immense faith on the four wrestlers who have qualified for the Olympics through last year's World Wrestling Championships -- Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia.
The 27-year-old grappler, who was attending an event in Bengaluru to announce an association between JSW Group's Inspire Institute of Sport and Herbalife Nutrition, in a conversation with The Bridge, said "You see, already four of them (wrestlers) have qualified from the World Championships, which has happened for the first time. Earlier, only one could qualify from Worlds that too after plenty of efforts. But this time it changed, we seized the first opportunity. I think wrestling will bring India the most medal in Olympics. Bajrang and Vinesh will win medals."
Sakshi won the bronze medal in wrestling in Rio 2016 Olympics (Image: HT)
Rio 2016 sparked a historic moment for India when the Haryana lass became the first and only Indian woman till now to win a medal - bronze - at the Olympics. The four-year-old event still etched fresh in our memory had changed the wrestling scenario for women in the country.
"I still feel very proud of the fact that I was the first Indian woman wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics and people look up to me as an example for women. When I started wrestling, there were many preoccupied notions that it's a men's sport and it will take a toll on women's physique. This perception has been totally changed with some great women wrestlers coming to the front. Parents also are now encouraging their daughters to take up wrestling. Many parents come to me and ask what do I eat, what do I do so that they could follow the same regime. I feel proud that I could change these parents' way of thinking who are eager to make their daughters professional wrestlers."
Sonam was chosen over Sakshi after the youngster defeated Sakshi in trials
However, fortune didn't favour Sakshi following her silverware at the Olympics. Post her medal at Rio 2016, Sakshi started suffering a spate of disappointing results. At the Commonwealth Games 2018, she went down in the first round but managed to win a bronze via the repechage. The bad form continued at the Asian Games where Sakshi returned empty-handed before suffering a humiliating exit from the 2018 World Championship. While the Indian contingent produced its best-ever performance with 1 silver and 4 bronze medals at the World Championships in September last year, Sakshi's dreams got stalled in the opening round of the women's 62-kg category, as she suffered an upsetting 7-10 defeat to a fiery Nigerian Aminat Adeniyi.
Also read: Don't feel pressured by expectations of gold medal at Tokyo Olympics — Bajrang Punia
Sakshi says all she needs is one good day which can turn around her career. "I really didn't feel any change in my performance after the bronze medal in Rio. You see it depends. I have suffered several defeats in the last few seconds of the bout and also I have won my bouts from similar positions. So it all depends on the day how it will turn out to be. I also lost the recent Asian Qualifiers trials in the last second. There is a luck factor also at work. I believe my god is asking me to work harder," she adds.
Sakshi Malik believes Bajrang and Vinesh will bring medals at Tokyo 2020 (Image: TOI)
Even after winning the silver medal in 62kg bout of the Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi, Sakshi will not be able to participate in Asian Olympic Qualifiers after she lost to 18-year-old Sonam Malik in the trials last week. However, there's a pinch of hope that Sakshi is counting upon that she may be called up for the World Olympic Qualifiers trials. "In my weight category, all contenders are strong. It is not like someone is a champion continuously. All are almost (at an) equal (level). There is no challenge as such that a particular wrestler or a country is strong," I hope that I can make into the Olympics. Though I cannot be too sure about the future of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. I just hope I get a trial before the world qualifiers and make it to the tournament and qualify for Olympics." she says.
Sakshi is married to another Indian wrestler Satyawart Kadian, who also won a silver in the freestyle category at the Asian Wrestling Championships. "No matter what, it is always a delight to win a medal at a big stage like this. In the 2019 Asian Championships that had happened in China, both of us had won the bronze medals. There is some strange connection, many a time we have won the same medal. It is a matter of great pride that two Asian Championships medallists belong to the same family."
