Ecstasy To Agony In A Few Hours

ON Tuesday night, India's sporting fraternity was celebrating a wrestler on the verge of history.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

Riding an emotional high, the grappler had the chance to become the first Indian woman to win Olympic gold.

As Wednesday dawned in the national capital, another Indian woman to have made history at the Games, Manu Bhaker, landed home. She was given a welcome befitting her achievements. Irrespective of the result of the gold-medal bout late on Wednesday, the 29-year-old would have had designs on a similar welcome. Battered and dragged through Delhi's streets after she became the public face of protests against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, this was all set to be a storybookworthy coronation.