Anshu Malik once again demonstrated her exceptional talent by securing a spot in the Paris Olympics. This remarkable achievement places her among the elite Indian female wrestlers including Antim Panghal, Vinesh Phogat, and Reetika Hooda. Her outstanding performance at the Asian Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where she triumphed in the 57kg category, illustrates her unwavering determination and skill. By clinching victory in just six minutes, Malik has earned her well-deserved place as the fourth female Indian grappler to qualify for the prestigious Olympics.
"There’s always this unsaid pressure, especially when it’s about making the cut for the Olympics that comes once in four years. But I was in a positive frame of mind, ready to accept anything that came my way,” Malik told a media portal.
“Jo pichle Olympics main kami reh gayi thi woh ab yeh Olympics main puri karni hai," she added.
Malik's historic win in 2021's World Wrestling Championship
In 2021, the Wrestler scripted history as she won the silver medal at the World Wrestling Championship in Oslo, Norway. Wrestler Malik is the first Indian woman to reach the finals of the championship and therefore the first one to win the silver medal.
She gave a strong battle to two-time Olympic medallist Helen Maroulis who won the gold medal. Malik maintained her performance despite an ankle injury in the quarterfinals and an elbow injury.
Malik defeated European silver medallist Solomiia Vynnyk of Ukraine in the women's 57 kg semifinals. All other Indian women wrestlers before her, Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumar, Pooja Dhanda, Vinesh Phogat and Alka Tomar had won bronze medals in the wrestling championship.
After Sushil Kumar and Bajrang Punia, the silver medal winners from 2010 and 2018 respectively, Anshu Malik is only the third Indian wrestler to reach that mark. Malik is also a junior world silver medallist and a cadet World champion.
Her father and former wrestler Dharamvir told Sportstar, "In the quarterfinals, she injured her ankle but fought the semifinals after taking painkillers. That’s why she could not reduce her weight last night and did it this morning."
Malik's defeat at the Tokyo Olympics
In 2021, Malik lost in the Olympics to the silver medallist, Iryna Kurachkina. Her father said that after Malik faced loss during the Olympics, he told her to believe in her karma.
Anshu Malik gave her winning speech, a video of which was posted by United World Wrestling. She said, "I am extremely delighted. In the Olympics, I could not perform the way I wanted to. I can’t explain how I trained for a month with that (left elbow) injury. I didn’t want to repeat the disappointing performance I put up at the Olympics."
She said that every bout seemed like her last, "now or never".
The reason behind the year-long gap
In the last four years, she has won silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships- with consecutive medals at the Asian Championship. However, in 2023 during the Asian Championships in Astana in April 2023, she suffered an MCL injury in her left leg, even though she finished the game with a bronze medal.
But since the Asian Games were on the head, not much time could be devoted to her injury. Just ten days before the event, the injury became worse and she couldn't participate.
Only in November 2023, did she resume her training with her father and coach Ajay Danda at Shahid Bhagat Singh Academy in Mirchpur, Haryana.
After the year-long break, she started with the National Championships in Jaipur in February this year where she was against a familiar opponent, Sarita Mor who had beaten her during Asian Games trials.
Finally, after her Paris Olympics qualification, she got rid of the hectic training going on for the last six months. She even took a break, went for a family vacation, gulped pizza willingly and watched movies.
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