Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar with Sakshi Malik (Express photo) Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar with Sakshi Malik (Express photo)

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced today that Sakshi Malik, India’s bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics, will be the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign in the state. The programme aims to empower the girl child and reduce rates of female foeticide in districts with low child sex ratio. Haryana particularly is a state that has a skewed gender ratio. Malik hails from the Mokhra Khas village in the state’s Rohtak district.

Malik is the first-ever Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in the sport of wrestling. She had defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova to win the bronze medal.

On her return to India from Brazil earlier today, Malik was given a rousing welcome by the state government after her plane touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. CM Khattar presented a cheque of Rs 2.5 crores to Malik at a programme in Bahadurgarh.

“I want to thank each and everyone for such a warm welcome. So happy to see so many people cheering for me. I also want to thanks all those who prayed for me, which helped me win the medal for my country,” Sakshi told reporters upon her arrival.

“It was my dream to win an Olympic medal and I worked really hard for that. Now that I have won it, it seems as if I am living my dream,” she said.

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