Rio 2016: Jinx stopped Sakshi’s family from getting sweets

Anticipating gold during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the family got sweets but Sakshi lost the final and had to settle for silver.

Sakshi Malik‘s family had no sweets to offer after she won bronze at the Rio Olympics early on Wednesday.(RAVI KUMAR/HT)

Sakshi Malik’s family was confident she would not return home empty-handed from the Rio Olympics, but because of superstition they didn’t get sweets in advance. So when the proud moment came in the wee hours of Thursday, they didn’t have sweets to offer to relatives and friends, who thronged the house after Sakshi clinched bronze.

“During the 2014 Commonwealth Games we were confident Sakshi would win gold, so I got lots of sweets in advance. But she lost the final, which we never expected, and the gold medal slipped out and she had to be content with silver. Keeping the jinx in mind, I decided not to get sweets. As her medal was decided late in the night, so we had to wait till morning to get sweets,” said Sakshi’s elder brother Sachin.

After her victory, Prime Minster Narendra Modi tweeted that she had given a Raksha Bandhan gift to all Indians. “What more could I ask for? Sakshi has given me the best gift on Raksha Bandhan and I have nothing to offer in return,” said Sachin.

“Before leaving for Rio, I had asked her for a rakhi, which I would have tied today. She said she would tie one on return.”