Rohtak girl ends India’s medal drought at Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO: Wrestler Sakshi Malik’s bronze, which ended India’s medal drought at the Rio Olympics, is a testament to her fighting spirit as much on the mat as

RIO DE JANEIRO: Wrestler Sakshi Malik’s bronze, which ended India’s medal drought at the Rio Olympics, is a testament to her fighting spirit as much on the mat as off it.

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The 23- year- old is from Rohtak, which is only 80km from the national capital but steeped in ways that made it difficult for her to pursue a sport regarded as an exclusive preserve of men.

In the beginning, her family didn’t want her to wrestle and, at one point, the people in her village even teased her, saying wrestling would give her “cauliflower ears” and no one would marry her.

But Sakshi and everyone around her were ecstatic on Thursday after she became only the country’s fourth woman Olympic medallist — three of them in heavily physical sports. Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting) and Mary Kom (boxing) too succeeded in sports that used to be purely male dominated

Sakshi was being hailed for her willpower after coming through the repechage rounds in the 58kg class before rallying brilliantly from 0- 5 down in the bronze medal bout, upstaging Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan 8-5.

She jumped on the mat, smiling ear- to- ear, before being hoisted by her coach Kuldeep Singh with the Indian tri-colour draped around her.

“I was confident all along. I always felt I would win. I did not back down and kept pushing. This is historic for Indian women wrestlers,” Sakshi said after the win.

“This is the result of over ten years of hard work. I feel proud and special that I could get this medal for India.”

Her family did not buy any sweets in advance, superstitious after she failed to win gold in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where she took silver.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the praise, tweeting that she had given a Raksha Bandhan present to Indians.

Sachin Tendulkar tweeted: “What more could I ask for? Sakshi has given me the best gift on Raksha Bandhan and I have nothing to offer in return.”

Her coach Mandeep Singh was a proud man. “Earlier, the target of our girls was to be in the Olympics. Now, everybody will talk about getting a medal. I hope the achievement will inspire girls in Rohtak and the state to pursue wrestling.”

The former junior world silver medallist and a Commonwealth championships bronze winner almost did not make the trip after the national federation chose Geeta Phogat for the first qualifying tournament despite Sakshi having beaten her in the trials.

However, Geeta did not claim the qualifying spot and Sakshi emerged victorious in the second qualifying tournament in Istanbul.

A windfall awaits Sakshi, who became the first Indian woman wrestling medallist at the Olympics. She is assured of Rs 2.5 crore from the Haryana government for the bronze while she will get another Rs 1 crore from the sports ministry, Indian Olympic Association and the Railway Ministry put together.

Sakshi’s success made some amends for the serious knee injury suffered by Vinesh Phogat, the 48kg wrestler and India’s bigger medal hope. The Phogat sisters and Sakshi train at the same centre.