Anshu Malik becomes 1st Indian women wrestler to win Silver at World Wrestling Championships

Anshu Malik became the first Indian woman wrestler who won a Silver medal in the women's 57-kg category finals at the World Wrestling Championships in Oslo, Norway on October 7, 2021. The 19-year-old Asian Champion Anshu Malik came second to the Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist and Rio 2016 Champion Helen Maroulis of the US. Another Indian woman wrestler Sarita Mor won the Bronze medal in the 59-kg category.

ANSHU creates history by becoming 1st 🇮🇳 woman wrestler to win a SILVER 🥈 at prestigious World C'ships @OLyAnshu goes down against Tokyo 2020 Bronze medalist Helen Marlouis of USA 🇺🇸 at #WrestleOslo in 57 kg event

Anshu displayed a commendable spirit, many congratulations! pic.twitter.com/VA2AsVLoii

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) October 7, 2021

Anshu Malik on October 6, 2021, had become the first Indian woman finalist at the World Wrestling Championships. Malik defeated Ukraine’s Solomia Vynnyk by 11-0 with technical superiority in the 57-kg category during the semi-finals at the World Wrestling Championships 2021 at Oslo, Norway.

In the quarter-finals, Anshu had taken over Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova and Mongolia’s Davaachimeg Erkhembayar to reach the semi-finals.

Only four Indian women wrestlers have won medals at World level

Till date, only four Indian women wrestlers have won medals at the World level namely Babita Phogat (2012), Geeta Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018), and Vinesh Phogat (2019). All these four Indian women wrestlers have won a bronze medal each.

With this win at the World Championships, 19-year-old Anshu Malik has also become the 6^th Indian wrestler who has reached the finals to fight for the gold medal at the World Wrestling Championship. The 5 wrestlers to reach the finals at World Championships have been Bishambar Singh (1967), Sushil Kumar (2010), Amit Dahiya (2013), Bajrang Punia (2018), and Deepak Punia (2019).

Who is Anshu Malik?

Anshu Malik is an Indian freestyle wrestler. Malik has won gold in the 60-kg category of the Cadet Wrestling Championships. In 2020, She clinched the bronze medals in the 57-kg category at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi and the silver medal in the women’s 57-kg-category at the 2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia.

In 2021, Malik won gold in the women’s 57-kg category at the Asian Wrestling Championships after beating Battsetseg Altantsetseg of Mongolia.

Anshu Malik hails from a family of wrestlers. She seeks training under Coach Jagdeesh at the Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School in Nidani. Anshu Malik’s father Dharamvir Malik was an international wrestler himself. He worked with the CISF.