Sonam gets home advantage in battle against injury
Having qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, wrestler Sonam Malik has to start afresh as she needs a lot of concentration and hard work to overcome her knee injury. In this battle, the biggest plus for her would be personal coaching on her home turf and homecooked food.
The 19-year-old Haryana girl made it to the Olympics, entering the final in the 62 kg weight category at the Asian Olympics qualifier last week at Kazakhstan and didn’t even bother about the pain in the right knee during the main qualifying bout.
With less than 90 days to go for the commencement of the global sport at Tokyo, the wrestler will need at least three-four weeks to heal fully.
Soon after reaching India from Kazakhstan on Monday morning, Sonam, who chose not to participate in the Asian Championship due to injury, got her knee checked and was happy to know after the MRI that it doesn’t require any surgery.
“It will take 20-30 days for proper healing and we have our own desi style of treatment along with routine medicines to get it done,” her personal coach Ajmer Malik said on Tuesday. “We got her knee checked in New Delhi and are happy to know that surgery isn’t required, but it will take at least 3-4 weeks for proper healing.”
Ajmer, who has been training Sonam at his own Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose sports Complex in Madina village in Sonepat since her childhood, said the Cadet World Championships gold medallist wrestler would surely be able to make a podium finish once she recovered from her injury.
“She (Sonam) has been a fighter as she stood tall even after being away from wrestling after almost getting paralyzed in the past. But she never gave up and believed in herself,” said Ajmer, adding, “Even during the recovery period, we will keep on working on her techniques, especially the upper body training. This won’t require any load on her but will help her stay in motion for the techniques.”
Ajmer, however, termed the postponement of the national camp at SAI centre in Lucknow “a blessing in disguise”.
“The postponement may sound bad, but for us it’s a blessing in disguise as she will be preparing herself on the home turf without any hindrance. The academy is almost a few yards away from her home and I am available for her 24x7 so training won’t be an issue with her.”
Sonam began her routine training on Tuesday morning itself. She was given a rousing reception by the inmates of her academy and the other wrestler Anshu Malik, who too has qualified for the Tokyo Games, was also present on the occasion.
“Sab apni betiyan hain and unki safatla hum sab ki hai (they are like daughters and their success is also ours),” said Ajmer, who has been a childhood friend of Sonam’s father Rajinder Malik.
PURSUING OLYMPIC DREAM!
“It’s a great homecoming as I was missing home-cooked food. Even before starting from Delhi, I told my mom to cook “roti, sabzi and my favourite daal,” said Sonam, who said that even during the knee-healing procedure she would keep dreaming of a medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
“This was what I was dreaming about even before qualifying for the Games as it is ultimate thing for me and my family. Nothing less than the podium finish is acceptable to me,” said Sonam, adding, “My primary focus right now is to get rid of my injury as soon as possible and get ready for the big show. Just to avoid any further damage to my knee, I chose not to participate in the Asian Championship at Kazakhstan.”
She, however, said that even after trailing by a good margin in the qualifying bout, she was sure of winning. “I didn’t care for my pain in the right knee as my mission was to qualify at all costs and was sure of winning as soon as the second round began.”