Thirteen days had passed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and India was yet to bring home a medal at the XXXI Games.
Following a flop show by the contingent, the country’s campaign was trimmed to four disciplines—track and field, badminton, women’s golf and wrestling. Fans back home were losing patience. But at 2.53 am IST, Aug. 18, the long wait was over when a 23-year-old diminutive woman wrestler from Haryana handed India its first medal in Rio—a bronze. Sakshi Malik showed extraordinary spirit to overturn a 1–5 deficit and win the repechage against Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova 8–5. The entire nation was thrown into ecstasy. History was written as this was also the first medal won by an Indian woman wrestler and the country’s fifth medal overall in wrestling.
This story is from the July 2017 edition of Sports Illustrated India.
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This story is from the July 2017 edition of Sports Illustrated India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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