India's Anshu Malik wins silver medal at World Wrestling Championships; Sarita bags bronze

Indian wrestler Anshu Malik won the silver medal at the World wrestling championships held in Oslo, Norway losing to two-time Olympic medallist Helen Maroulis of the USA in the final. In the Bronze medal match, Sarita won by 8-2 points winning a bronze medal. It was a moment to cherish for the Indians as two wrestlers won medals at the World Wrestling Championships.

Anshu Malik picked up an ankle injury in the quarterfinals and was suffering from an elbow injury before arriving for the competition. But this didn’t stop her from competing as she displayed a great display of grit and determination to win a silver medal.

India's Anshu Malik wins silver 

Never before had any Indian woman wrestler entered the final. In the semifinal clash against Solomiia Vynnyk of Ukraine, the 20-year old wrestler outplayed her opponent as she won the bout by an 11-0 margin to enter the final. Although she couldn’t continue her winning ways, she etched her name in the history books.

The United World Wrestling on Twitter put out a video message. Anshu was delighted to bag a silver medal and create history. She said, “I am extremely delighted. In the Olympics, I could not perform the way I wanted to. I can’t explain how I trained for a month with that (left elbow) injury. I didn’t want to repeat the disappointing performance I put up at the Olympics.”

“I tried to give my 100 per cent. Before every bout, I thought this is my last bout – now or never,” she added.

Indian women’s team chief coach Kuldeep Malik was all praise for the 20-year old wrestler. He said, “Anshu did good leg defence. Her defence while standing was also good. Her attacks were solid. This performance will give her a lot of confidence for future events, including the Olympics.”