I was also exhausted because it was my fifth bout of the day but I had three minutes to give my best.
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The inspiring show by Sakshi lifted the gloom that had descended over the Indian contingent that spent 11 days waiting for a medal. In the second period of the bout, Malik believed in herself and bounced back.
Ramachandran said, “this is the first time we are doing it and we hope that this will form an additional incentive for the athletes and we are looking at a higher than ever medal haul”. The Indian wrestler kept her calm and scored three much needed points to register a win against her opponent. The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallist was back to “doing the chasing” in her bronze medal bout against Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova. She then started her campaign on a rousing note with a dominant 11-0 thrashing of Alina Emilia of Romania in the pre-quarterfinals. “Hopefully she will recover in one week”, Gupta said.
On her defensive approach that saw her trailing 0-5, Sakshi said: “I never gave up till last, I knew I would win if I lasted till six minutes”.
Therefore, in the first repechage round, these two grapplers from Germany and Mongolia faced each other. “But then I thought I must redouble my efforts to get a medal which she would also have got”. She repeated the move again and sat in a comfortable position. The other bronze was won by Marwa Amri of Tunisia. Just as time was running out, and with barely three seconds left to full time, Sakshi seized the moment and scored a point.
But Koblova, with enormous strength, hit back nearly immediately to pocket four points and then gained another two to open up a 7-2 lead.
Malik has come a long way from watching her grandfather wrestle in sand pits, the family tradition that originally inspired her interest in the male-dominated sport. The girl from Rohtak deserves every accolade for breaking India’s duck in Rio. “She has created history & made the country proud”. Railways Sports Promotion Board secretary Rekha Yadav told PTI that the Board will reward Sakshi once she returns from Rio.
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Vinesh, who got her injured knee wrapped, was taken off on a stretcher as the injury seemed to be a very serious one. “You can not do anything afterwards”, said Sakshi, quite happy that she did not hold back anything, at the moment of reckoning.
