Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik finally put an end to India’s sad run to the Rio 2016 Olympics by winning a historic bronze medal in the women’s 58kg freestyle category. With her victory over Aisuluu Tynybekova in the third round of the draft, Sakshi became the first Indian wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics.
Kyrgyz wrestler and current Asian No.1 Tynybekova enjoyed a fairly smooth run to the semi-finals, winning 11-8 over Brazilian Joice Silva in her round of 16 match, followed by a massive 14 triumph. -7 on it. quarterfinal rival and Finnish wrestler Petra Olli. With just Russia’s Valeria Koblova between Tynybekova and a place in the top clash, it was Koblova who secured a 4-1 victory to let Tynybekova compete for a bronze medal.
On the other hand, Rohtak-born Sakshi, a silver medalist at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, had an incredibly rocky journey as she had followed her opponents three times, but had managed to overcome all obstacles with a tremendous display of courage and competence. A landslide 12-3 victory over Mongolian Orkhon Purevdorj saw Sakshi fight for India’s first medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
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After the victory ceremony for the women’s 48kg freestyle category ended with the coveted gold medal by Japan’s Eri Tosaka, the first match for the bronze medal was played between Tunisia’s Marwa Amri and the Azerbaijani Yuliya Ratkevich. The first won it 6-3, which meant the second bronze medal game was next.
So it was finally time for the two 23-year-old wrestlers – Sakshi Malik from India and Aisuluu Tynybekova from Kyrgyzstan – to step onto the center mat of Carioca Arena 2 in Rio de Janeiro for the penultimate match of the wrestling. free female of 58 kg. .
The fight began with Kyrgyzstan forcing Sakshi on the back foot as she repeatedly circled him to grab his legs. The first chance went to Sakshi, but she couldn’t turn Tynybekova for an out and was given a penalty point in the second minute. Within moments, Tynybekova’s lead extended to 5 points as Sakshi was pushed out of the circle twice in a row.
In the meantime, Sakshi was trailing 0-5 and had a huge job to do if she hoped to change the fate of India’s medals in Rio. But she was up to the task, and how!
Collecting back-to-back doubles via takedowns, Sakshi reduced the deficit to one point with the final 30 seconds to go. Just pushing Tynybekova out of the circle in the last 10 seconds wouldn’t have been enough as the score of 5-5 would have given the fight to Kyrgyzstan. It was then that Sakshi had a superb take-down with just two seconds on the clock, and she took the lead for the first time in the game at 7-5.
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A failed challenge gave India another run and it ended 8-5 in favor of Sakshi, scoring a historic bronze for the wrestler from Haryana! It was a moment of immense pride for her, and she showed her joy by draping the tricolor around her shoulders and falling to the ground, before standing up and beaming all over the place. Images of his winning moment are likely to be forever etched in the memory of all Indian sports fans.
On August 18, 2016, Sakshi Malik made history and his achievement is now set in stone.
