Sonika Kaliraman
Sonika Kaliraman is an indian wrestler. She was the member of Doha Asian Game's indian squad.Sonika Kaliraman,daughter of legendary wrestler Master Chandgi Ram is a very promising wrestler.Brother-sister combination of Chandgi Ram’s children, Sonika and Jagdish have emerged among the best wrestlers available in the country. She has been featured in reality show - Khatron Ke khiladi with bollywood star Akshay Kumar.
Sonika is currently the only woman westler who has represented India in the Asian Games making the country very proud. She also puts the small-screen on fire with her participation in adventure reality show, Fear Factor.
Originally from Haryana, Sonika grew up in New Delhi where her father trained her in his wrestling training camp. At the age of 23, he showed Sonika and her sisters photos of Laila Ali, daughter of Mohammed Ali and Karnam Malleswari, a South Indian who won an Olympic gold medal for weightlifting. At the time, she was worried that if she takes up this unusual career, she may end up alone but in February of 2009, she married an NRI, Siddhart Mallik and is now happily settled in California, USA. Her husband Siddhart is also a sportsman, having been a national champion in Martial arts in the United States.
Sonika proudly talks about her family of wrestlers and her father, “I belong to a family of wrestlers and my father has been a very well known name in the Indian wrestling community. It was because of my father that I was forced to learn the game. Women’s wrestling is not popular in India. Since kushti is considered a male domain, my father encouraged me to excel in the game.”
Speaking about her recent appearance on the reality tv show, Fear Factor, she says, “It’s a new experience for me to be on a set for a shoot, along with so many beautiful women. Initially I was very nervous and felt like the odd one out but when all the girls started interacting with each other, it turned out to be great fun. In fact, Roza, one of the contestants in the show, would walk up to me after every hour and ask for wrestling tips.” She also goes on to say that she was thrilled to learn that she would have to perform “tricky and challenging stunts on the show”, adding “Being a woman wrestler, I was particularly impressed with the fact that the show is women-oriented and helps these 13 women to overcome fear. It sets an example for others and that is very inspiring.”
She participated in Asian Games at Doha, and even though she didn’t win that time, Geetika Jakhar, another Indian female wrestler brought back a silver medal.
She was under training to take part in Beijing Olympics in 2008 but due to some problems with the coach, she wasn’t put forward for it.
Sonika has also inspired other young girls in India who have begun asking how they could take up the sport.
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