'He tried to touch me': Sakshi Malik Reveals Unsettling Details of a Traumatizing Incident

Rio Olympics Bronze Medalist Sakshi Malik has brought forward a disturbing incident that she endured during her childhood. The former wrestler made the revelation through her memoir "Witness". Malik wrote that her tuition teacher tried to get her over to his place at odd times and made attempts to touch her without consent.

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"I could not tell my family about it because I thought it was my fault. My tuition teacher from my school days used to harass me. He would call me over to his place for classes at odd times and sometimes tried to touch me. I was scared to go for my tuition classes but I could never tell my mom." Talking about her struggles at the start of her career, Sakshi said she hated confrontations and would think of running away from her bouts at the beginning of her career.

The traumatizing experience has seemingly permeated to her core and she claims it continues to affect her even today.

"It's a fear that I've carried to the end of my career. I've never enjoyed the actual act of confrontation.

"... I was an exceptionally slow starter in wrestling. I won my first bout only after nearly two years of my first stepping on a wrestling mat. It wasn't that I didn't have any physical skills.

"I was always one of the fastest and strongest girls at my coaching Centre for my age. But I never developed the fearlessness you needed for a fight. I would always get very nervous before my bouts." She added.

Sakshi Malik was an active part of the Wrestlers Protest, that transpired in 2023. she was a picture of defiance during the protest against Sharan Singh and said the political class disappointed her.

(With inputs from PTI)