Haryana’s 23-year women wrestler Sakshi Malik, achieved what her other much fancied compatriot could not achieve here. She won India the medal- a bronze- to end the medal drought and gave millions of fans back home something to celebrate .
The medal came against all odds as the gloom had enveloped the Indian camp.
In her second repechage and medal round the Indian trailed 0-5 with only two minutes to go. But the diminutive Sakshi Malik staged a stunning comeback and overwhelmed bewildered Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova ( Kyrgyzstan) as she clocked eight points to claim India's first ever women's wrestling medal in Olympics .
The Indians erupted in joy as there was more of a sense of relief of having won a medal with only three days to close before the competitions end in this edition of the Olympic Games.
Sakshi started tentative as in the first round and was cautioned twice by the referee for being too negative , following which Tynybekova managed to collect four points on the bounce with swift grabs of Indian’s legs to take a 5-0 lead .
Realizing that it was a do or die situation for her the Indian retaliated with such swiftness that Kazakh was taken a back by surprise.
Salshi knew that she had no option but to go all out on the offensive and that is what she did. He rattled rival however was able to keep her defence intact to begin with.
But as time ticked away , Sakshi became more aggressive blitz, and was able to bring herself to parity with just a few seconds left, scoring 2, 2 and 1.
In the dying moments the score was 5-5, the bronze was within reach of Tynybekova as she had pulled off the higher scoring manoeuvre for the match. But Sakshi took the attack to her opponent in the last five seconds and was able to turn her over at the edge of the danger zone.
The score was 7-5 as the time ran out, and the Indians started celebrating but the Kazhaks refused to give up and lodged a protest.
Their referral was rejected, and a penalty point added to Sakshi to make it an 8-5 win on points.
“i am proud that I got my country the first medal in this Olympics” a visibly thrilled Sakshi told media persons after the win.
“I am very sure that this medal will open the door for many more to come in next three days. I am confident that my fellow wrestlers will come up with more medal winning performance.”
Asked what happened in the first in which she conceded five points besides get cautioned by the referee, Saksh replied that her rival was trying to twist my little finger, and i was trying to get out of it.I could not attack her in this situation.
“It was during the break my coach advised me that only three minutes are left, so don’t trying to get into hand to hand contest but attack her from outside and that paid off.”
She said “Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar are my idols.They both have won the Olympic medals and I am happy that i followed there footsteps.”
Earlier also , Sakshi had to come from behind to beat g Johanna Mattsson of Sweden 5-4 and then Mariana Cherdivara 5-5 to set up a quarterfinal clash with former world championship silver medallist Valeriia Koblova of Russia.
Koblova defeated Sakshi 9-2 , and then went through to set up a final against Kaori Icho of Japan, which opened a window for Sakshi to hope for a bronze via repechage.
She beat Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia 12-3 to set up the bronze medal match against Tynybekova..
Interestingly in 2008.Sshil Kumar also won a bronze after getting a chance in repechage . Four years later Yogeshwarvia Dutt also bagged a bronze in London in repechage.