Once a fan of WWE superstar John Cena, Meenakshi Goyat is now in the Asian Championships final

That professional wrestling was a different kettle of fish didn’t strike Prem then. He and his daughter went looking for wrestling academies.

“I had no idea that Pro Wrestling is different from what I am doing right now. In my family, no one had any idea about what that was. My father was a farmer so he didn’t have much knowledge either,” Meenakshi had said after her trials for the Asian Championships.
After the Goyat family figured out that Nidani Sports Hostel is the place that has produced Olympians, Meenakshi was sent there to train as a 12-year-old kid. “When I dropped her off at the Nidani Sports Hostel, she was just a 12 year old kid and used to weigh 26 kg. There used to be a bus going to the akhada every Sunday. So, I would sometimes carry fruits and milk for her or sometimes just give it to the kids going to akhada,” Prem said.

While Meenakshi slowly started making progress in wrestling, tragedy struck at home as her mother was diagnosed with cancer. “My wife was diagnosed with cancer and I had no option other than putting her in the akhada for a long time,” recalled Prem. But staying in the akhada meant that Meenakshi trained relentlessly.

All the training started yielding results as she started climbing the ranks with a gold at the 2016 Sub-junior nationals and 2018 Junior nationals. But in 2019 during a bout at the U-23 Nationals in Guwahati, her leg slipped due to a slippery wrestling mat and it resulted in Meenakshi injuring her leg. “Her injury was pretty serious. Doctors had said that it would be tough for her to walk now. She stayed in bed for more than six months. While others around her were winning medals, she used to sulk, looking at her condition,” said Prem.

Meenakshi with father Prem Goyat. (Express Photo)

When she returned to the mat after recovering from injury, she used to weigh 68 kg and could barely move. “She wanted to get back quickly to the mat once her injury healed. She cut close to 10 kg in quickly and started moving more swiftly,” Prem explained. “Within one year, she became the national champion at the 2021 nationals.”

After the national title in 50 kg category, Meenakshi moved up to the 53 kg category and stagnated because of the presence of Vinesh Phogat and then later Antim Panghal.

Meenakshi had made a mark by defeating two-times World Championships medallist Antim at the trials last month. But before the Asian Championships trial last month, Meenakshi had the jitters given the losses in the past. “I’ve played a lot of international competitions as a junior but very few as a senior. I would always end up losing in the trials and many times to Antim. Those losses put a lot of pressure on me,” she said after the trial.

The feat was overwhelming for her but her family and coach Ajay Malik made it a point to motivate her. “My father and brother motivated me a lot. They kept telling me not to be afraid, that I had a lot of talent and that I worked really hard,” she said.

Malik, who has been training Meenakshi at Kuldeep Malik Academy in Sonepat since 2019, said that all he has told her is to keep calm before the final tomorrow. “I had a chat with her and asked her to just believe in the training she had over the years,” Malik said.
With the fear to take down more storied opponents gone, Meenakshi is one step away from winning her first senior gold in an international championship.