Olympic bronze medal-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik is all set to be conferred with the country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Riding on her bronze medal finish at the Rio Olympic Games, Sakshi Malik entered the top-five in the latest UWW (United World Wrestling) rankings, rising to a career-best 4th position in women's 58kg category. Previously unranked, Sakshi, who became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an olympic medal, claimed the position in the latest list.
Sakshi Malik ended India's frustrating medal drought with a dramatic bronze-winning effort on Day 12 of the Rio Olympic Games on Wednesday.
Sakshi thanked Olympic medalists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt for showing wrestling the way.
After ending India's agonising wait for an Olympic medal at the Rio Games with a bronze medal, Indian women wrestler Sakshi Malik said it was the result of her 12 years of persistent hard work.
Sakshi Malik got the better of Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the 58kg freestyle bronze medal play-off to earn India its first medal at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday night.
It's a sport that is synonymous with power for most, but India's Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik says her achievements on the mat are not just because of brawn but also brain.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday felicitated Rio Olympics bronze medal winner and wrestler Sakshi Malik.
Haryana wrestler Sakshi Malik has come a long way in her fairy-tale journey to etch her name in the sporting history of the country.
A windfall of cash rewards and incentives, amounting to at least Rs 3.5 crore, fittingly awaits Rio Olympic bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik.
Indian wrestlers have been highly impressive at the global level in run up to the Tokyo Olympics and at least three of them are genuine medal contenders at the Games.
The first Indian woman grappler to win an Olympic medal, a bronze in the 58kg freestyle at Rio, she was the obvious choice as P V Sindhu, India's only other medallist, who bagged a silver in the women's singles badminton, left for Hyderabad on Saturday.
As we prepare to cruise into the New Year, Rediff.com gives you a glance back, through photos, into all the sporting moments that made the last 12 months memorable.
The Rio bronze-winner has tweaked her leg defence on the insistence of her coach Kuldeep Singh Malik, something that has already got her a gold in the Commonwealth Championships in December last year.
Manavi Kapur goes behind the scenes to find out what it takes to be a successful woman wrestler.
Vinesh Phogat created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, brushing aside her rivals with remarkable ease in the 50kg category.
A grand welcome awaits Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik when she arrives home on Wednesday, with hectic preparations underway to give her a rousing reception at her village Mokhra Khas in Rohtak district. When Sakshi touches down at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi at around 3:50 a.m. tomorrow, as many as five ministers of the BJP Government in Haryana will be there to receive her.
After bringing home just two medals from the Rio Olympics, India needs to be realistic in its preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Games and should narrow its focus to a handful of sports, says former All England badminton champion Prakash Padukone. P.V. Sindhu's silver medal in the badminton women's singles and a bronze from wrestler Sakshi Malik at the Rio Games was considered a sorry return for a nation of 1.3 billion people. India have won a total of 28 medals since first competing at the Olympics in 1900 but a government think tank has come up with a strategy it hopes will help the country to 50 medals in 2024, including prioritising 10 sports.
Bajrang Punia (men's 65kg) posted an impressive victory on the penultimate day of the Asian Wrestling Championship on Saturday.
The Rio Olympics bronze medalist shared the stage with Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha during the Whisper 'Like a Girl' campaign. When asked about the recent trend of making biopics on sportsmen, Sonakshi said that she will be thrilled to star as Sakshi if at all a movie was made based on the wrestler's life.
'People taunted me, saying 'You are a woman, why are you wrestling?'
Brimming with pride at their daughter's historic achievement at the Rio Olympics, female wrestler Sakshi Malik's parents, on Thursday, urged all fathers to encourage their daughters, who wants to take up sports, saying the grappler's feat should set an example for all and sundry.
A bitter court battle, followed by an embarrassing dope scandal, before some redemption through an Olympic medal -- Indian wrestling in 2016 mirrored the script of a Bollywood potboiler in which Sakshi Malik emerged as the new star on the horizon. For most part of the year, wrestling hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, making it a tumultuous Olympic build-up after two-time medallist Sushil Kumar found himself ousted from contention just a couple of months before the Games in Rio. The chain of events that set in ended up disgracing the sport before Sakshi emerged an unlikely saviour in the Brazillian city.
Haryana on Wednesday honoured its 'daughter' Sakshi Malik by appointing her as brand ambassador of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign and presenting the Olympic bronze medallist a cheque of Rs 2.5 crore.
'Sakshi's medal will do to women's wrestling what Sushil's 2008 Olympic medal did to wrestling in general.' 'It will make more and more families put their daughters into wrestling.' 'More and more young girls will fall in love with the sport and demand that they be taken to akhadas.'
Two unassuming young women saved India the humiliation of returning empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time since Barcelona in 1992 with awe-inspiring performances at Rio.
As the year 2016 draws to a close, vote for the best Indian sportsperson of the year.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances