It is India's 25th medal at the Olympic Games since independence in 1947.
Sakshi, who began training when she was 12, now stands as an icon for Indian women's athletes and what makes her story even more remarkable is where she comes from.
Her bronze medal is a major victory over sexism in one of India's most conservative states, Haryana.
Sakshi was one of three female wrestlers to qualify for the Rio Olympics
hailing from the north Indian state where women have long been treated as second-class citizens and 'honour killings' and sex-selective abortions are rife
In the build-up to the Summer Games, Sakshi had recalled in an interview some of the instances when villagers had sniggered and pointed fingers when she wrestled with boys
wore shorts in a state where women are usually covered head-to-toe and confined to their homes.
According to Sakshi, locals used to berate her parents when she was growing up
"It hurt a little and I wondered why people said such mean things, especially when I was so young, and made me doubt myself," Sakshi Malik
Haryana is renowned for its male-dominated village councils which control life in the largely farming region, issuing diktats to prevent women defying conservative norms
Sakshi Malik receiving bronze medal at the vectory ceremony in the women's wrestling freestyle 58-kg competition
Haryana has the worst sex ratio in the country, with 877 women for every 1,000 men, against the national figure of 940, according to the last official census of 2011.
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