Malik was born on 3 September 1992 in Mokhra village[12] ofHaryana'sRohtak district to Sukhbir, a bus conductor withDelhi Transport Corporation, and Sudesh Malik, a supervisor at a localhealth clinic.[13][14] According to her father, she was motivated to take up wrestling from seeing her grandfather Badlu Ram, who was also a wrestler.[13][15] She began training in wrestling at the age of 12 under a coach, Ishwar Dahiya, at anAkhara in Chhotu Ram Stadium,Rohtak. However, there were four people out there namely, Kuldeep Malik, Ishwar Dahiya, Mandeep Singh, and Rajbir Singh who claimed themselves as the coach of Sakshi Malik.[16] Later on, Sakshi herself submitted an affidavit with the sports department, informing that Ishwar Dahiya and Mandeep Singh are her coaches.[17][18]
Malik's first success as a professional wrestler in the international arena came in 2010 at the Junior World Championships where she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg freestyle event.[19] At the 2014 Dave Schultz International Tournament, she won gold in the 60 kg category. And after that, she never stopped and maintained her passion and dedication to the game.[20]
Malik began her campaign at the2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games winning her quarterfinal bout against Edwige Ngono Eyia of Cameroon by a 4–0 margin. In the semifinal, she facedBraxton Stone of Canada whom she defeated 3–1 to assure herself of a medal. Her opponent in the final wasAminat Adeniyi of Nigeria who defeated her 4–0 in a closely contested bout.[21] At the2014 World Championships inTashkent, she faced Anta Sambou of Senegal in the Round of 16, and won the bout 4–1. She crashed out of the tournament after a 1–3 loss toPetra Olli of Finland.[22]
At the2015 Asian Championships inDoha, Qatar, in a total of five rounds in the 60 kg category, Malik battled through two rounds to finish in the third position and claim a bronze medal. In the first round, she faced Luo Xiaojuan of China but was beaten 4–5 by the fall verdict. She came back strongly in the second round to beat Munkhtuya Tungalag of Mongolia 13–0, before losing in the third round to Yoshimi Kayama of Japan. She was able to clinch the bronze medal in the fourth round, beating Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan.[23]
Malik qualified for the2016 Rio Olympics by defeating China'sZhang Lan in the semifinal of the 58 kg category at theOlympic World Qualifying Tournament in May 2016.[24][25] At the Olympics, she won her Round of 32 bout against Sweden'sJohanna Mattsson and Round of 16 bout against Moldova's Mariana Cherdivara. After losing to the eventual finalistValeria Koblova of Russia in the quarterfinal, she qualified for the repechage round where she defeated Pürevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia in her first bout. She won the bronze medal after an 8–5 victory over the reigning Asian championAisuluu Tynybekova ofKyrgyzstan, despite trailing 0–5 at one stage, in the repechage medal playoff, and became India's first female wrestler to win an Olympic medal.[26]
Sakshi Malik represented 'Colors Delhi Sultans' in the second edition of the Pro Wrestling League held in January 2017. She has also been featured in the women's day campaign called #EveryWomanStrong for her sponsor JSW Group.[27]
She announced her voluntary retirement with grief. After putting the shoes on the table at a press conference, she said she would never participate in wrestling because the close aide of Brijbhushan Singh, MP and former WFI chief was polluting the federation.[30][31][32]
Malik is currently employed with Indian Railways in the commercial department of its Delhi division, in theNorthern Railway zone and she is a part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program.[33][34] Following her bronze medal win at Rio, she was promoted from senior clerk to gazetted officer rank.[35]
Malik has completed a master's degree in physical education fromMaharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak.[36][37] In September 2016, she was appointed as the university's wrestling director.[38]
In an interview shortly after the Rio Olympics, Malik said she was engaged to be married to fellow wrestlerSatyawart Kadian later in 2016. They got married on 2 April 2017. Kadian is also an international level wrestler and has won medals in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.[39]
In May 2023, she and other people were arrested by Delhi police for taking part in protests
On November 14 2024, She gave birth to a baby girl named Yoshida Kadian.[40][41]
Malik, along withVinesh Phogat and other wrestlers, accusedBrij Bhushan Singh, amember of the Lok Sabha and the president of theWrestling Federation of India of sexual and mental harassment.[42][43] They organisedIndian wrestlers' protest in January 2023 and demanded the dissolution of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The government's assurance to form an oversight committee to investigate the claims caused the protests to be dropped in January 2023. In April 2023, the protesting wrestlers returned to their rallies, claiming that the government was doing nothing. In December 2023, she announced her retirement from wrestling after the election of a close aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh as WFI chief.[32]
In 2022, Malik appeared in a short documentary by German broadcasterDeutsche Welle about women in wrestling, featuring young wrestler Payal Sharma. The documentary features Malik training Sharma on her way to be a professional wrestler, as well as a traditionally held gender roles in India and, in particular, women in sports.[51]
