Sakshi Malik, who made her country proud at the Rio Olympics by winning a bronze medal, said that she wasn’t 100 percent ready for the Asian Wrestling Championship, which was her first major international tournament, after the 2016 global event.
Earlier in May this year, she had to remain happy with a silver she had won in the women’s 60kg category in the Asian Wrestling Championship.
Said Sakshi while talking to reporters at an event, “Actually, after (Rio) Olympics that (Asian Championship) was my first international competition, and there was too much gap, and I felt that there was some gap in the experience. We cannot say that the preparation was 100 per cent (for the Asian Championship),”
She also said, “Now the training is in full swing and hopefully I will do better in the future.”
She was awarded with the Woman of the year award by the IMC Ladies’ Wing at their Annual General Meeting.
Sakshi had grabbed the headlines after her spectacular performance in the Rio Olympics which saw her grab a bronze for her country. She had become a household name after that and when asked as to how she felt when she returned back to the mat after all the applause and the huge fanfare that she got, she said, “That is the best feeling (to be on the mat). The sport I play and because of which I have reached this level, doing that I get peace.”
The Haryana wrestler however said that there was a lot of pressure on her to win the gold in the Asian Wrestling Championship after her Olympic bronze medal win.
“There is pressure, we have to overcome that. The only way to deal with pressure is do hard-work, hard-work and hard-work. If I do hard-work, there will be confidence,” she said.
She also added that she takes out time for training despite being amongst a lot of social events.
“There is distraction (of social events). But I take out time for training despite this functions. Wresting in a tough sport. If we move away from the moves of wresting, we move away from the sport. I do functions, but take out time for training,” added Sakshi.
For the 24-year old, wrestling would always remain at the top of her priority list and she also said that she felt peaceful after training.
Sakshi is now gearing up for the World Wrestling Championship which is going to be held in Paris, in August this year.
“I and the coaches are focusing on those things which we need to improve on. We are working on moments, techniques” she said.
She also has her sights firmly set on the Commonwealth Games in Australia, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and finally, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Her life after marriage also hasn’t seemed to change as both her husband Satyawart Kadian and her father-in-law are wrestlers.