Spirited Sakshi takes bronze to end India’s medal drought

Rio de Janeiro, August 18: A diminutive 23-year-old girl from Mokhra village near Rohtak in Haryana, Sakshi Malik, touched glory at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday by reaching out and grabbing the only medal India has been able to win at the 31st Olympiad.
What’s even more astonishing is that she is the only women wrestler from the village which has produced several achievers in the field.
Sakshi brought an end to India’s long medal wait, when every hopeful had failed one by one. She clinched the bronze in the Women’s Freestyle 58kg category with a spirited comeback victory over Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan.
The young wrestler overturned a 0-5 deficit in a hectic second round to script an 8-5 victory in the medal bout at the Carioca Arena 2 here.
“I have stood up to the hopes of the country for the first medal. I was confident that I can win in the end even being down. The last two hours were the most difficult for me thinking whether the medal will come or not,” she said in her initial comments soon after winning.“This is the first time that a medal has come for women. It’s a success of my 12 years of dedication. My hard work has succeeded,” Sakshi said.
It was a rousing display of fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude from the Indian.
There was a visible sigh of relief among officials and coaches. Her coach of eight years, Kuldeep Singh said his heartbeat had increased after she was five points down, “as they were of all Indians.”
He said he told her during the break that she should “untwine her fingers from the opponent and go for her legs. She did that and gained two points and then went on to win a match.”
He said her strength lay in her ability to attack with both the legs. “I had a lot of hope before the match, and I kept on telling her the medal was hers to take.”
She started her bid for the bronze in superb fashion by defeating Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia 12-3 in the Repechage Round 2 to move within striking distance of a medal. The Haryana wrestler was too superior for the 22-year-old Mongolian and dominated right from the start.