Since winning bronze medal at 2016 Rio Olympics, Sakshi Malik’s performances have not been up to the mark. However, she quelled all those criticism after she claimed the silver medal in the non-Olympic 65 kg category at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Hall in New Delhi. Sakshi was defeated by Japan’s Naomi Ruike in the final as she settled for second place.
Sakshi did not make a good start to her campaign as she lost her opening match to Japan’s Ruike. However, she quickly redeemed herself to beat Korea’s Ohyoung Ha by technical superiority which helped her reach the semi-final.
In the semi-final, she was up against Uzbekistan’s Nabira Esenbaeva. Sakshi started off well and took a 5-0 lead. But her rival did not let up as Nabira pulled off consecutive two-point moves to make it 5-4. It was nervous at the end for Sakshi as her opponent looked to overturn her lead. Ultimately she managed to hold on to confirm a silver medal in the tournament.
In the other results of the day, Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik both won bronze medals in the tournament.