Girl power! Sushil Kumar raises toast to Sakshi Malik & Co

Girl power! Sushil Kumar raises toast to Sakshi Malik & Co

Sakshi Malik won a historic bronze medal in the 58 kg event at the Rio Olympics

Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma got a lot of appreciation for her role of a female wrestler practising against men in the recent blockbuster 'Sultan'. But for India's real life female grapplers, fighting against men, often bigger and stronger than them, is a routine, and a thankless one at that. That's one of the main reasons why India's most decorated Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar salutes Sakshi Malik for her historic bronze medal-winning performance in the 58 kg event at the Rio Olympics recently.

"Here in Haryana, girls like Geeta Phogat, Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and of course Sakshi, among others, have been wrestling against boys all their lives. It's not that they want to show off their strength, but it's more out of compulsion because there is hardly any competition for them among women," Sushil told mid-day over the phone from New Delhi recently.

India's Haryana-based top female wrestlers (L to R) Geeta Phogat, Vinesh Phogat, Ritu Phogat and Babita Kumari

"The Phogat sisters have their father (former wrestler) Mahavir Singh, while Sakshi has her coach Ishwar (Dahiya) to thank, but had it not been for the girls' hardwork and guts, the story could well have been different today given the traditional male dominance in Haryana," said Sushil, in reference to a state that holds the infamous record of leading the charts in the country when it comes to female foeticide.

"Vinesh would have also won India a medal in Rio had it not been for her injury. She was leading against the Chinese girl before she twisted her knee," said Sushil (33) referring to the 48 kg wrestler's unfortunate retirement due to injury in the quarter-final of the Rio Games against China's Sun Yanan, who went on to win bronze.

Indian women's wrestling can only look up from here felt the 2008 Beijing bronze and 2012 London Olympics' silver medal-winning wrestler, who also gave credit to the Railways for having faith in these fearless females. Had it not been for Sushil's detailed discussion and persuasion of the Railway authorities in Delhi two years ago, Malik might not have got the training and exposure that eventually led to her third place show in Brazil.

"Two years ago, when I was in Northern Railway, I met Rekha Yadav (Railway Sports Promotion Board secretary) and explained the significance of women's wrestling.

"I told her that the Railways backs women in so many sporting disciplines, then why not wrestling, which has the potential of winning medals at the Olympics. Thankfully, she understood and agreed, and almost immediately, the famous Railway umbrella took Sakshi and a couple of other wrestlers under its wings."

India's double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar

Sushil, however, hands the success back to the girls. "Full credit to these young ladies because they've had to fight a lot of social evils outside their mud akhadas. And just as they pin down their rivals on the mat, they have successfully wrestled all traditional beliefs stacked against them," Sushil concluded.