Sakshi Malik

Sakshi Malik is the first Indian woman wrestler to win a medal in Olympics. Malik opened India's account in medals tally at Rio 2016 by winning bronze in Freestyle Wrestling 58 kg category.Malik belongs to Rohtak district, Haryana. She started pursuing wrestling in 2002 with her coach Ishwar Dahiya. Her achievements were overshadowed by wrestler Vignesh Phogat before her Olympic triumph. She faced many challenges in initial stages of her career as woman were not allowed to wrestle in Haryana. As a result, she wrestled with boys early on in her career. Sakshi Malik is also the fourth Indian women to win a medal at Olympics. She was not part of the buzz before Rio Olympics, let alone winning a medal and ending India's medal drought. Malik has won in various national tournaments. Her previous achievements in international circuit feature a silver medal in Commonwealth Games 2014, Glasglow and a bronze medal in Asian Wrestling Championship 2015 in Doha. She also managed to reach quarter-finals of World Wrestling Championship at Uzbekistan.