Sakshi Malik won a medal in the 58kg category at the Rio Olympic Games and now Anshu Malik will take up the challenge in Tokyo in the same weight (57kg). Anshu has returned after touring Poland and Estonia along with her support staff including Chief Coach Kuldeep Malik. She shared her experiences with The Daily Guardian.
Anshu said that of course she won a lot of medals in World Cadet and Asian Cadet, but now she had an idea that medals could come only with very good training in the senior category at the world level. We were kids when I won medals in cadet and junior categories and didn’t know much but now in camp we have worked a lot on our mistakes. One or two techniques alone cannot win medals at the Olympic level. It is important to change the strategy according to the opposition. We have had a lot of opportunities to improve on this tour, especially in ground wrestling. Anshu hopes that the experience of this tour will be of great use to her.
When asked about the reason for not participating in the Poland Open, she said that the day before the competition, she had a slight fever and was also a bit overweight. In such a situation there would have been further loss by reducing the weight. The coach and the physio decided to keep her out of the tournament even though she knew it was the last ranking tournament before the Tokyo Olympics. Anshu inherited the hobby of wrestling. Her father could not go much ahead in wrestling. Her uncle was Haryana Kesari. Her brother is also a wrestler. Doesn’t she get bored while discussing wrestling day and night, does she play any other sports? In response Anshu says that I follow other sports but I am associated with wrestling and sticking to it only.
Anshu feels that the presence of World Championship medalist Pooja Dhanda and Asian champion Sarita Mor Mann has benefited her at the national level. It has been very good for me to increase the competition by practicing with them. Kuldeep Malik, chief coach of the Indian women’s wrestling team, said that he is satisfied with the preparations of Vinesh and Anshu in this tour. Both are in good shape and fit perfectly. Even other two wrestlers Seema and Sonam are doing well in India.
This time four Indian women wrestlers have qualified. Seema and Sonam were recovering from injuries while Vinesh and Anshu practiced in Poland and Estonia. Vinesh has been in Hungary for a long time and from there she will reach Tokyo. Kuldeep said that his heartfelt desire is to carry the tricolor along with his four daughters on his shoulders.
