Need 2 national camps in a foreign country every year: Sakshi Malik

“Before Olympics, we went to Spain for a training camp and we got to practise with a lot of quality wrestlers. I believe for better performances we need more foreign exposure where we compete with the top wrestlers from other countries,” Sakshi said on Friday.

While she has been preparing for the upcoming PWL, her next target is to do well in Asian Games in Jakarta and Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

“Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are obviously my main target. I have started training two months back and it’s been good so far. I don’t intend to change my weight category (58 kg),” said Sakshi, who was present at the logo launch of the Delhi Sultans.

Sakshi (58kg) will represent the revamped Delhi franchise – Delhi Sultans – in the PWL, starting January 2, along with her fiancee Satyawart Kadian (Freestyle 97kg), 2016 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Bajrang Puniya (Freestyle 65kg), Rio Olympics silver medallist Mariya Stadnik (48kg) and 2013 World Championship gold medallist Alina Makhiyna (75kg) among others.

Asked about being sold for Rs 30 lakh which was far less than the youngest Phogat girl Ritu, team owner Anurag Batra said: “We would have loved to go up to Rs 45 lakh for Sakshi but by the time her bidding happened at the auction, the other teams had exhausted their purse. So even though we wanted, we could only give her Rs 30 lakh.”

During the auctions, six teams from Mumbai, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Jaipur were given a purse of Rs 2 crore each to form a nine-member squad that includes five men and four women, five Indian and four international wrestlers. With a bio-pic ‘Dangal’ based on life of noted coach Mahavir Phogat and his daughters released on Friday, Sakshi said that such movies will only help the sport of wrestling attain heady popularity.

“Sultan released earlier and now Dangal released today (Friday).

It’s good that two films have been made on wrestling. If someone wants to make a bio-pic on my life, I won’t mind but I have no actress in mind who can portray my role. That’s not my job,” she said. 

Sakshi also mentioned that she did not have any Bollywood actress in her mind to enact her character if a movie is made on her.

“I don’t have any such favourite actress to play the role. But if someone plans to make the movie, I will be glad,” she added.

The 23-year-old Sakshi became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal, when she pulled off a sensational 8-5 victory over 

Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the play-off bout of the Rio Games in August this year.