The legendary Phogat family, the doyens of Indian wrestling.
Sakshi Malik grew up hearing of Mahavir Phogat and his daughters who ruled Indian women’s wrestling. Later in life, she practised with a smile when allowed to train against Geeta didi, the eldest of the sisters and also the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for an Olympics.
But in 2015, Sakshi managed to fight her way out of Geeta’s shadows and beat her in the Indian Olympic trials of the 58kg category. She was now the India number 1 and would go for all the qualifiers for Rio.
Only, she didn’t. Having failed in her first few tries, Sakshi was forced to cede her berth to Geeta didi for the Mongolia qualifiers. Call it her luck, but Geeta failed to make the most of the opportunity and Sakshi had one last chance to seal her Rio dream.
And she did, beating a former world champion to follow Vinesh Phogat as the second woman wrestler from India to qualify for Rio.
Watch the video as the ever smiling wrestler tells her Rio story, in her own words.