Sumit Malik (born 9 January 1993) is a

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

from India who competes in 125 kg category. He was gold medallist at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, ...

. He has also been silver medalist at both the

Asian Wrestling Championships Asian Wrestling Championships is the Wrestling Asian Championship organized by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). The men's tournament began in 1979 and The women's tournament was first staged in 1996, and it has been held every year. ...

and the

Commonwealth Wrestling Championship The Commonwealth Wrestling Championship is a tournament designed for top wrestlers in the Commonwealth of Nations. It is not linked to the Commonwealth Games, nor has any accreditation with any sports body in any country. Edizioni Łącznie meda ...

in 2017. In July 2021, Malik was handed a two year ban by

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including ...

for failing a dope test.

Early life and career

Malik was born on 9 January 1993 in Karor village of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

's Rohtak district. His mother died when he was young, after which his maternal grandparents took him to his maternal home in Delhi. There his maternal uncle was a wrestler in

Chhatrasal Stadium The Chhatrasal Stadium is a sports stadium in North Delhi. The stadium is famous for its wrestlers, such as Yogeshwar Dutt, Ravi Kumar Dahiya , Sushil Kumar, Bajrang Punia and Amit Kumar Dahiya who have won medals at Olympics, Commonwealth Games, ...

, from whom he got inspiration to become wrestler. He has been training at Chhatrasal Stadium since the age of 13. Malik's first bout at the 2017 Asian Wrestling Championships was in quarterfinals where he defeated Japan's Taiki Yamamoto by 6–3. After winning his next bout against Tajikistan's Farkhod Anakulov by 7–2, he lost in the final to Iran's Yadollah Mohebbi by 6–2. Later in the year, he participated in the

2017 World Wrestling Championships The 2017 World Wrestling Championships were the 14th edition of World Wrestling Championships of combined events and was held from August 21 to 27 in Paris, France. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's ...

, where he lost in the opening bout to Russia's Anzor Khizriev. As Khizriev did not become finalist, Malik did not get another chance to make comeback via

repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

. In November, he won 2017 National wrestling championships after defeating Hitender in the final. Whereas he lost to Hitender in the final of the 2017

s in the next month. At the

, Malik won his opening bout of Nordic format after injured forfeited it. After the closely fought victory against Canada's

Korey Jarvis Korey Jarvis (born October 4, 1986) is a Canadian wrestler who most notably won a gold medal in the 125 kg category in men’s freestyle wrestling at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He has additionally, competed and won the Canadian National W ...

in the second bout by a margin of 6–4, Malik registered comfortable win against Pakistan's with a score of 10–4. In the last bout, Malik received second walkover of the match when injured Sinivie Boltic forfeited it, thereby winning the title.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malik, Sumit Living people 1993 births Indian male sport wrestlers Sport wrestlers from Haryana People from Rohtak district Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2018 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2022 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Asian Games competitors for India Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Wrestling Championships medalists Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games