Sakshi Malik | file photo
Sakshi Malik made a spectacular comeback as the wrestler secured her first gold medal after a long wait of five years at the UWW Ranking Series event. Manasi and Divya Kakran also topped the podium finish. But that day undoubtedly belonged to Sakshi, who struggled till the recent Commonwealth Games trials.
She was consistently losing to young Sonam Malik in the 62kg category and even missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Games. But today she was in her element and looked completely transformed as she fought the battle with immense confidence.
Her body language was the main difference because after a long time she thought she really was.
She started off with a technical superiority win against Kazakhstan’s Irina Kuznetsova and then registered a massive 9-3 win over Uzbekistan’s Rushana Abdirasulova.
As Mongolia’s Tserenchimed Sukhi lost her semi-final, Sakshi advanced to the final, where she beat Kuznetsova 7-4 to beat the home wrestler for the second time in the day.
Sakshi stood out with her double leg strikes and agility, barely giving her opponents a breather. Even as her opponent won the challenge to take a 5-3 lead, Sakshi didn’t budge and went on to win in an emphatic fashion.
The last time she won a gold medal was at the 2017 Commonwealth Championships, while she won two bronze medals at the Asian Championships in 2020 and 2022.
Mansi (57kg) also won the gold medal, winning her final 3-0 against Kazakhstan’s Emma Tysina, who barely made a move.
Divya won by ‘fall’ in her two bouts – against Mongolia’s Delgarma Enkhsaikhan and Kazakhstan’s Albina Kergeldinova – but lost the final bout 10-14 to Mongolia’s Bolortunglag Zorigat in the 68kg category.
Zorigt also finished with two wins and one defeat (against Delgarma), but since Divya had more convincing results, she was declared the winner.
India has now won four medals in the 63kg category with Greco-Roman wrestler Neeraj winning bronze on Thursday.