Wasn''t 100 per cent prepared for Asian Wresting C''ship: Sakshi

Mumbai, June 21 

Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik said she wasn't 100 per cent prepared for the Asian Wrestling Championship, her first international event after the quadrennial games.

Malik had settled for a silver in women's 60kg in Asian Wrestling Championship held in May this year.  "Actually, after (Rio) Olympics that (Asian Championship) was my first international competition, and there was too much gap, and I felt that there was some gap in the experience. We cannot say that the preparation was 100 per cent (for the Asian Championship)," Sakshi told reporters on sidelines of an event here. "Now the training is in full swing and hopefully I will do better in the future," she quipped. She received the Woman of the Year award of The IMC Ladies' Wing at their AGM here this evening. Asked how she felt when she was back on the mat after fanfare, she said, "That is the best feeling (to be on the mat). The sport I play and because of which I have reached this level, doing that I get peace." Sakshi said there is a lot of pressure on her as everyone expected her to bag a gold in the Asian Championship.

"There is pressure, we have to overcome that. The only way to deal with pressure is do hard-work, hard-work and hard-work. If I do hard-work, there will be confidence," said the wrestler from Haryana. "There is distraction (of social events). But I take out time for training despite this functions. Wresting in a tough sport. If we move away from the moves of wresting, we move away from the sport. I do functions, but take out time for training," she said. 

She said mat and wresting will always be the first priority for her and that after training she felt peaceful. Sakshi said she is preparing for the World Wrestling Championship to be held in Paris in August. "I and the coaches are focusing on those things which we need to improve on. We are working on moments, techniques," she said. Sakshi said she is also focusing on the Commonwealth Games to be held in Australia, 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and eventually the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Sakshi also said after marriage her life hasn't changed as her husband Satyawart Kadian and father-in-law are both wrestlers. — PTI