Despite achieving a historical feat by becoming the only woman wrestler from India to win silver in the recently concluded World Wrestling Championship in Oslo at the tender age of 20, Norway, Indian wrestler Anshu Malik said that she has to overcome her shortcomings and focus on the upcoming competitions with her eye solely on winning gold in the Commonwealth Games next year.
After returning from Oslo, in an exclusive interview to The Daily Guardian, Anshu said that it was her wish to be crowned a gold champion but due to an injury in the final, that dream was over.
“It was my heartfelt wish to become the world champion because till now only Sushil from our country has become the world champion. I had the same goal to wear the world champion belt, but due to the injury in the final, all my hopes were lost,” she said.
In the final, Anshu faced former Olympic and world champion Helen Maroulis. Helen recently won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and is a well-known face in India thanks to the Pro Wrestling League (PWL).
Anshu said that Helen’s achievements did not put any pressure on her because she had also undergone preparations at this level. “I had decided that I had to give my 100 per cent and it was a fight for gold,” Anshu said.
In this bout, Anshu was leading 1-0 till halftime, but in the second half, everything turned upside down. Regarding this, Anshu says that before the World Championship, she had an injury in her elbow. Again, injury to the leg was done against the Mongolian wrestler and in her last bout.
“I believe that in today’s era at the same weight, I will have more competitions with Helen in the near future so that I have to work on these mistakes with the help of my coaches. In the next bout with her, I am sure that I will be better,” she added.
There is no doubt that Anshu has more power than Helen, but Helen did a lot of work on the upper body, which worked for her. Anshu scored a total of 38 points in four bouts. Anshu says: “I had already decided that I have to overcome those shortcomings. However, in the Rome ranking tournament, I have defeated a Bulgarian wrestler who is an Olympic medalist.”
When asked about where did it go wrong against Irina of Belarus in Tokyo, Anshu said that there was no pressure on me even in the bout against Irina. “It doesn’t even bother me that she was a seasoned player in international competitions,” she said and further admitted that she made some mistakes in this bout and now, “I will try to correct those mistakes,” she added.