For me, Sakshi Malik is defined by four images. Two from 2016- the young wrestler pinning down her opponent on the mat at the Rio Olympics and Sakshi on the podium at the Rio Olympics, smiling her cherubic smile while clutching her bronze medal. And two from 2023- Sakshi Malik being dragged away from the protest site by police officers, and a tearful Sakshi banging her shoes down on the desk at the press conference where she announced her retirement.
To most of us, these images form the bookends of the career of one of India’s most popular and successful female wresters. Each of these is described in great detail in her memoir, Witness, but there is so much more to her story than just these moments, and the book gives equal importance to all that happened before she achieved the fame that she did.
Sakshi Malik may not have achieved the kind of fame that the Phogat sisters (/cousins) did, but she holds a unique position in the hearts of all sports fans as the first (and till date, only) female wrester to win a medal at the Olympic Games. While Sakshi had a reasonably successful international career even before qualifying for the Rio Olympics, she became a household name only after she won the bronze medal.
Though she continued wrestling for a number of years even after the Olympics, she never really lived up to the extremely high expectations of the Indian fans. But at the fag end of her career, when she was actively considering retirement, Sakshi Malik chose to take a principled stand.
Her training, and her wrestling career
The story of Sakshi Malik, however, began long before she reached the Rio Olympics. Her story is the story of a young woman who started wrestling a little later than others, but who was determined to make every single training day count. Sakshi Malik was so disciplined about her training that she was much stronger than almost all her opponents.
Unlike the families of other wresters in Haryana, Sakshi’s parents insisted that her education was of primary importance, so her days comprised of getting up in the morning, training for a few hours, going to school, going back for a few hours of training, and finishing homework before going to bed. She is atypical in that she successfully got her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees while continuing to compete at the international level.
The Protests against Systemic Sexual Harassment
What emerges from the memoir is the portrait of an extremely brave and principled woman. A woman who is reticent by nature and doesn’t actively seek the limelight? A woman who does her best to avoid confrontations whether it be with her family or with the Wrestling Federation, but one who took a principled stand when she had to. Sakshi did not have political ambitions, nor did she crave an administrative position in the Federation- she could have chosen to remain silent, because she had nothing to gain by speaking up at the fag end of her career. Yet, she chose to join the protests because she felt she owed it to the next generation of women wrestlers. She did not have to do what she did, but she did it because she was convinced it was the right thing to do.
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Whenever a woman speaks about sexual harassment, people turn around and throw the same questions at her. Why did you not complain then? Why are you complaining now? How do we know that this is not a personal vendetta against the man? Despite all her achievements, Sakshi Malik was treated no differently from any other woman who complains of sexual harassment. The media shared photographs of the perpetrator posing with her at her wedding, and she was asked why she invited him to her wedding, and posed for a photograph with him.
Anyone who understands power dynamics knows that sexual harassment is not about sex, it is about power. Sakshi Mallik was a very junior wrestler when the perpetrator harassed her, and she knew that he had the power to destroy her career if she spoke up. If she wanted to win individual fame and bring glory to the nation, she would have to remain silent and pretend nothing happened, which is what she did.
She knew that she had to invite him to her wedding and smile for the camera, because if she didn’t he could ensure that she never wore the India colours again. By speaking up when she did and by not seeking favour or advancement after the protests, Sakshi underlined her principal stand- she did what she did for others, not for herself.
Her Personal Life
Sakshi is also brutally honest about personal relationships. She describes how her family cheated her out of most of the prize money that she received after the Rio Olympics. She is quite philosophical about it- her parents supported her when she was young, and she doesn’t dwell too hard on the fact that they used up most of her money. She does, however, reiterate the need for Indian women to not only be financially independent but to also have control over their finances. She makes the point that if a well educated woman like her could be cheated, so can other women.
Sakshi’s courtship of her husband is adorable. It is a courtship, unlike any that you think could happen. It is a courtship where messages were exchanged for months before the two met up for an ice cream. It is also a courtship which shows how pragmatic many Indians are about love- when they first decide to take the relationship forward, they exchange surnames of mothers and grandmothers to be sure that practical caste considerations will not later come in the way of marriage. While this kind of ‘love marriage’ keeping in mind caste dynamics is common in India, it may not be something that a non-Indian reader will understand.
The finest sports writing in India
Jonathan Selvaraj is one of the finest sports writers in the country today and his coverage of wrestling at the Paris Olympics was both deeply knowledgeable and non partisan. In this book, he has allowed Sakshi‘s voice to shine forth, without compromising on the narration. There is a lot in the book for people who are interested in knowing more about training, wresting techniques and preparing for tournaments.
The passages on how wrestlers ‘cut weight’ before competitions will be of great interest to anybody who has followed the story of Vinesh Phogat at the Paris Olympics. It was fascinating to read of how even the most rudimentary stadiums in Haryana are built in a manner where the stadium infrastructure itself can be used for practice. The descriptions of bouts is engaging even for people who do not understand the nuances of wresting.
The book is titled “Witness”, which is the literal meaning of Sakshi’s name. But it also denotes the fact that Sakshi Mallik served as a witness to what happened and continues to happen in the wrestling community.
If you are a fan of sports, if you follow sports apart from cricket, if you like women sports or if you just want to read about women’s issues in India, this is a great book to pick up. I would, of course, have liked the book to have a few photographs, but one can always go to the internet for photographs- it is the story that you read the book for.
[I purchased a copy of this book and the views are my own.]
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