The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Bizarrely declared dead once, Nisha wrestles her way to prized Paris quota
BEFORE FRIDAY, the night she won a Paris Olympics quota, when Nisha Dahiya last hit the headlines, it was to let the world know she wasn’t dead.
Late one evening in November 2021, news begantotrickleoutinthewrestlingcircuitthat a young woman named Nisha had been shot dead at an akhara in Sonepat. Within minutes, photos of Nisha Dahiya flooded the internet. Above it, a hashtag: ‘RIP’.
On Monday, two days after she sealed an Olympicberthforthecountryinthe68kgcategory at the World Qualifiers, Nisha doesn’t dwell much on the time when she had to read her own obits during the bizarre case of mistaken identity, when another unfortunate wrestler lost her life.
Butshecan’tstoptalkingabouttheoneperson who issued statements and made videos todebunkthefakenewsofherdemise–sakshi Malik. Sakshi would also stand by her during the tougher challenges that followed.
In 2016, after she won the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, Sakshi broke the proverbial glass ceiling for women wrestlers in India. For Nisha,shebecamealifelongally,sparringpartner, roommate at national camps and a mentor.
“She came into my life at a time when I neededsomeonetoshowmetheway;toshow what’srightandwrong,”nishatells The Indian Express from Istanbul, where the qualifying tournament took place.
Nisha was in Class 8 when she left her home in Adiana, Panipat, to pursue a career in wrestling. After a brief stay in Nidani, she movedtorohtakin2015andjoinedanakhara run by Sakshi’s father-in-law. From that moment on, Nisha has spent a large part of her life doing everything Sakshi does.
“Discipline, rehna, khana, peena .(Wayof living, eating, drinking.) Her nature is so good that I became kinder,” she gushes. Even the way Nisha wrestles is modelled on her idol – aggressive with a deadly double-leg attack that’s Sakshi’s signature move.
A jestful, two-year-old reel, barely five seconds long, captures their bonding. Nisha has the camera zoomed in on her when a voice says, ‘Akela thodi hoon’. She then pans towards
Sakshi, walking two paces behind her, as the voiceover goes, ‘mushkilein hai mere saath.’ Sakshi playfully hits her and they both laugh.
Indeed,nisha’spathtoparis,ifshewinsdomestic selection trials likely next month, has been strewn with challenges: a dope ban, a bout of Covid that dashed her Tokyo Olympics hopes and injuries. And Sakshi, almost unfailingly, has been her guardian angel.
Herbiggestsetbackcamein2017whenshe wasbannedfromcompetingatanylevelofthe sport after being caught using a performanceenhancing drug. Nisha says it happened ‘unknowingly’ by using a substance she was told would help her reduce weight so that she remained eligible to compete in her weight category, which was 57 kg back then.
”Myfriend’sbrothersuggesteditakeaninjection. If it was something to eat, it was fine but when you have to inject something into your body, you have your doubts. I asked him againandagainifhewassurethatitdidn’tcontain any prohibited substance. He assured me therewasnothingtoworryabout.evenhissister took it. But unfortunately, on the day the dope officers came to collect our samples, she had gone home and I stayed back,” Nisha says.
Initially, she was banned for four years whichwasreducedtotwoafteranappeal.the stigma, Nisha says, was too hard to deal with. She considered quitting wrestling. “My tau (uncle)workedintheincometaxdepartment so I thought I’d study and do something like that. But my family didn’t let me quit wrestling.”
And in Sakshi, she got ‘unwavering support’. “Mentally, more than anything,” Nisha says. “She didn’t stop training with me. Taught new techniques and moves, counselled me and made sure that in those two years, the toughest phase of my life, I didn’t give up,” Nisha says.
They spoke endlessly after training, sometimes late into the evenings. Sakshi, the senior pro who had experienced the uncertainties of a sporting career, would share her learnings.
Keep training
“She told me, ‘Whenever we are worried, when we cry, struggle, get tired or angry… the daywewinamedal,itwillallfeelworthit.just close your eyes and continue to train’. What shesaidreallyhitmeandgavemethestrength to endure those times.”
Nisha’s suspension period ended in 2019. Sincethen,she’sremainedtheundisputednational champion in the 68 kg weight class but could not go to the next level.
In 2021, when she had a chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, she was down with Covid-19 and could not compete in the qualifiers. She then lost in the selection trials for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and when she made it to the team for the Asiad last year, Nisha suffered a collarbone injury in her firstround bout.
2023wasalsotheyearwhenherwrestling associationwithsakshiended.“becauseofthe protests, Sakshi di stopped training. From the time I started wrestling properly, I had been with her all the time. She would travel to Rohtak specially to train me but I was more usedtoherasasparringpartner.imissedthat,” she says.
So, Nisha moved her base from Rohtak to Vijaynagarwhereshenowtrainsunderiranian coach Amir Tavakolian, who competed at the Sydney Olympics, at the Inspire Institute of Sports.
It has opened her eyes to new, more modern training methods. But at the core, she remains a wrestler in ‘Sakshi’s mould’ with her words of wisdom still ringing in her ears. But Nisha isn’t happy or satisfied merely with a quota.
”Right now, my only focus is the Olympics. I have struggled a lot for this,” she says. “This is my time.”