Anshu Malik took Indian wrestling by storm, by becoming the first-ever woman wrestler from the country to reach the final of the World Championships in Oslo in October this year. She lost to 2016 Rio Olympics champion, USA’s Helen Louise Maroulis, in the title bout of the women’s freestyle 57kg division. But the girl from Nidani in Haryana’s Jind district scripted history by becoming only the third Indian wrestler ever to make the gold medal round at the Worlds, that too, in her debut season as a senior wrestler.
Previously, only four Indian women wrestlers have managed to secure medals at the Worlds and all of them settled for bronze – Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019).
Double Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar is the lone world wrestling champion from India, winning the title in Moscow in 2010. Bajrang Punia had come close to matching Sushil’s feat but lost his final match at the 2018 Worlds to settle for silver.
The year also saw a young Anshu make her Olympics debut in Tokyo, where she lost in the repechage round. The 20-year-old had sealed her place for the Tokyo Games at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Almaty, ahead of World Championships bronze medallist and compatriot Pooja Dhanda.

Anshu has made a steady transition from the junior to the senior circuit, defeating big names like Pooja, Sarita Mor and Lalita to make the 57kg division her own. In fact, she has competed in only six senior tournaments thus far in her promising career and won medals in five of them, becoming the Asian champion in the process. She also boasts of a silver at the Individual World Cup.
“The year passing by has been exceptional for me. Obviously, the silver medal at the Oslo Worlds was my high point of 2021. But qualifying for Tokyo was equally significant for me. This was the first time in my career that I participated in so many competitions in a single year and, thankfully, came back with a medal from each one of them, except for Tokyo where I lost in the repechage. I have gained a lot of experience competing in the senior circuit and this will hold me in good stead as I prepare myself for bigger challenges ahead next year,” Anshu told TOI.
She revealed that injuries to her shoulder, elbow and ankle suffered during the Worlds meet forced her to skip mat training for more than two months and it’s been only two weeks that she has resumed her practice sessions under the guidance of her long-serving coach Jagdish Sheoran at the Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School in Nidani.
“I was in rehab after returning from the Worlds, as injuries had taken a toll on my body. I haven’t been giving my 100 percent on the mat and it will take another 20-25 days to regain my full fitness level. I have been told by my coach not to exert myself during training sessions and will gradually look to pick up the pace.
“Next year is very important for me. I have planned to return to competitions with the senior Asian championships in April, which will be my comeback tournament since the Worlds. Then, we will have the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and later the Asian Games. My target would be to win medals in all these events,” she added.