Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik celebrates after winning the bronze medal at the Rio Games.
A young girl carried the pressure of expectations of a medal-starved country with a heroic display of grit under pressure
Published: Thu 18 Aug 2016, 6:40 PM
Last updated: Thu 18 Aug 2016, 9:16 PM
For a country of 1.25 billion people, it's quite incredible that India have managed just once bronze medal at the Rio Games so far. Sakshi Malik's bronze in the 58kg event in women's wrestling nevertheless lifted the spirit of a country that was bracing itself for the worst.
They don't need to worry now as unlike in the 1976 Montreal, 1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Seoul and the 1992 Barcelona Games, they won't have to return empty-handed from the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet.
Now for saving them the blushes, they should thank a young girl who carried the pressure of expectations of a medal-starved country with a heroic display of grit under pressure. Trailing 5-0 to Aisuluu Tynybekova, her opponent from Kyrgyzstan in the bronze medal match, Sakshi brought all her skills to stage a stunning fightback and eventually clinched the deal in the dying seconds with an 8-5 score.
Of course, it helped that Sakshi belongs to Haryana where it's still a struggle for women to hold their own in a male dominated society and where honour-killings and sex-selective abortions still make disturbing headlines.
So much so that the record for the worst sex ratio in an Indian state belongs to Haryana (877 women for every 1,000 men; the national figure is 940-1000).
Naturally, a young girl like Sakshi had to suffer a lot to become a woman wrestler in Haryana.
"It hurt and I wondered why people said such mean things, especially when I was so young, and made me doubt myself," Sakshi had said before the Rio Games as she spoke about men who would stare at her and make fun of her for wearing shorts in a state where it's a tradition for women to cover themselves from head to toe.
It was in such an environment that Sakshi took her baby steps as a wrestler. But she was lucky that she was backed by her family and friends and trained by renowned local coaches. Their support was invaluable as Sakshi made phenomenal progress, winning a bronze at the junior world championship and a silver at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. But it was in Rio last night she achieved her greatest sporting moment, becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal.
"I never thought I would become the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal in wrestling," an elated Sakshi said after the medal ceremony in Rio.
Sakshi also became only the fourth Indian woman to clinch an individual Olympic medal in 96 years (India made its Olympic debut in 1920).
"In fact I never knew what an Olympics was, I wanted to become a sportsperson to travel in an aeroplane. If you can represent India, you can board a plane, and fly!"
These were the simple, innocent words from Sakshi after her heroics last night.
The country has obviously gone gaga over her on social media. Tributes have been pouring in from all corners - from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar. But it remains to be seen if the country actually learns to honour an athlete like Sakshi by taking a long-term sports plan for future Olympic Games. But judging by the way they run sports in a cricket-obsessed country, Sakshi might well be a forgotten hero in a few years' time. After all, how many people can actually recall the name of the weightlifter who won India's only medal at the 2000 Sydney Games!
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com
| India at Olympics |
| Population 1.25 billion |
| 23 Olympic Games overall |
| Olympic debut in 1920 |
| 25 Total medals |
| 9 Gold Medals |
| 4 Silver medals |
| 12 Bronze medals |
| 8 Gold medals in men's hockey |
| 1 Individual gold medal in shooting (by Abhinav Bindra) |
| 14 Individual medals overall |
| 4 individual medals overall by women |
| Bronze: Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting) in 2000 Games |
| Bronze: Mary Kom (boxing) in 2012 |
| Bronze: Saina Nehwal (badminton) in 2012 |
| Bronze: Sakshi Malik (wrestling) in 2016 |
| Sakshi Malik profile |
| Age 23 |
| Born: Rohtak, Haryana |
| Height: 5'3'' |
| Weight category: 58 kg freestyle |
| Major Honours |
| Bronze at 2016 Rio Olympics |
| Silver at 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games |
| Bronze at 2015 Asian Championships |
| Bronze at 2010 World Junior Championship |
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