Ishwar, Mandeep my coach, Sakshi to Haryana govt

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 29

Who’s Sakshi Malik’s coach? Well, that has been an interesting topic of discussion ever since she has returned from the Rio Olympics with a historic bronze medal in women’s wrestling.

As many as four coaches have claimed to have coached Malik at different stages of her career; the reason is a Rs10 lakh award that her coach(es), will get from the Haryana government.

These coaches are – Ishwar Dahiya, Rajbir Singh, Mandeep and Kuldeep Malik. All of them have submitted affidavits to Haryana’s sports department, claiming to have coached Sakshi.

The Haryana government had recently informed the coaches that Sakshi will have a final say in this matter.

The suspense has now been lifted as Sakshi has submitted an affidavit with the sports department, saying that Dahiya and Mandeep are her coaches, while Rajbir had done little to contribute to her game. Sakshi has informed that Dahiya coached her for six years from 2004 to 2010 at the Sir Chhotu Ram Stadium in Rohtak, while Mandeep has been training her since the start of 2015.

“Ishwar was her coach for six years during her initial days. After him, Rajbir had been deputed by the state government as the chief coach of the wrestling academy in 2011. He was associated with the academy from 2011 to 2015, but his job was more or less to mark the attendance of the wrestlers. The wrestlers trained under the junior coaches. In 2015, Sakshi started getting personalised training under Mandeep and the bronze medal was the result of his coaching,” Sakshi’s mother Sudesh told The Tribune.

Meanwhile, Sakshi will start her training from October 1 and will also participate in the Nationals next month.