Indian woman wrestler Sakshi Malik is one of the prominent athletes of recent times who was one of the two medalists for the country at the last Olympic Games in Rio. PV Sindhu bagged a Silver medal and Sakshi won a Bronze medal.
Sakshi Malik became the first ever Indian woman wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. And she also became only the fourth woman athlete from India to win an Olympic medal. It has been one year that Sakshi won the medal and she is celebrating one year of success that she achieved at the Rio Games in 2016.
On August 18, 2016, Sakshi defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova 8-5 in a sensational Women’s Freestyle 58kg bronze medal bout to hand India its first medal at the quadrennial event in Rio de Janeiro. Sakshi’s victory brought cheers to the Indian contingent that had endured an agonizing 11 days without a medal.
On Wednesday, marking the first anniversary of her bronze, Sakshi posted a picture with the medal on Twitter and captioned it as, “One Year of Medal love. Aaj Ek Saal pura hogya…aap sabse bhout Pyaar or samaan mila..Thank to everyone.”
🤼♀🛫 🇧🇷 🤼♀🥉🛬 🇮🇳 ❤😀One Year of medal love.
Aaj ek saal pura hogya…aap sabse bhout pyaar or samaan mila..Thank to everyone. pic.twitter.com/bWIab0x5we— Sakshi Malik (@SakshiMalik) August 17, 2017
It was a significant moment in two ways. Firstly it made the whole country take notice of Sakshi’s talent and secondly, it gave India some saving grace considering that it was India’s first medal at Rio after a dry spell for many days at the games.
Many people joined hands in congratulating Sakshi for her achievement. After all, she was the first-ever Indian female wrestler to win at the Olympics. In an otherwise disappointing campaign, her bronze medal win was one of the few bright spots for India in Rio.
As everyone was congratulating, reputed sports journalist Sukhwant Basra reflected quite opposite. He decided to tread a different path as he took the opportunity to point out how ace shooter and India’s only Olympic individual gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra, appeared to be the only athlete in the country who did not go ‘overboard about his win’.
He tweeted, “It’s amazing how the only guy who doesn’t go overboard with his win is @Abhinav_Bindra.”
It’s amazing how the only guy who doesn’t go overboard about his win is @Abhinav_Bindra https://t.co/iIhk97nfid
— Sukhwant Basra (@SukhwantBasra) August 17, 2017
Moments after this tweet from Basra, though, the Twitterati shredded him apart for his ignorance and apparent defamation of the achievements of other Indian athletes. Many criticized him for discouraging the athletes. Few asked him to win an Olympic medal for the country before sharing his thoughts.
By saying this is going overboard? 👍
— Saketh RVK (@rvkvoices) August 18, 2017
No idea why you have to say that. It’s an Olympic medal dammit!
— Saketh RVK (@rvkvoices) August 18, 2017
Bhai aap gilli dande me district level pe award leke aao phir kehna.she’s won a medal fair & square.done a country proud.has gloating rights
— sudipto k (@sudiptok1502) August 17, 2017
Bigger joke is the level of “sports journalists” of our country…adept at discouraging…crab mentality!!!
— sudipto k (@sudiptok1502) August 17, 2017
never seen more stupid tweet than this. I know it might hurt your feelings but it’s what it is.
— Dnyaneshwar Gaikwad (@Optimus7737) August 19, 2017
Even Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt came out in support of Sakshi Malik. The wrestler posted a message on Twitter on how everyone had the right to express their thoughts. He wrote, “Everyone has their own point of view and only a few get the fruits of their lifetime’s labor. The whole of India is proud of you Sakshi and the moments of victory shall be remembered forever.”
अपनी अपनी सोच है।जीवन की तपस्या का फल भी किसी किसी को मिलता है।सारे भारत को आप पर गर्व है @SakshiMalik,जीत के छण सदा के लिए यादगार है।🇮🇳🤼♀️ pic.twitter.com/IGBUuLukrp
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) August 18, 2017
Sakshi was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2016 and the Padma Shri award in 2017. Apart from the fine achievement at the Olympics, she has got several other medals in her kitty. She has bagged medals at the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Championships, the Commonwealth Championship, the World Junior Championships and the Asian Junior Championships in the past.