Sindhu Bids For Second Medal For India After Sakshi Shows Way

RIO DE JANEIRO: A day after unheralded grappler Sakshi Malik opened India's medal count with a dramatic bronze-winning effort, shuttler P V Sindhu is all set to further showcase Indian women's capabilities at the Olympic Games here today.

Showing extraordinary fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude, 23-year-old Sakshi from Haryana ended India's frustrating medal drought by scooping bronze medal in the 58 kg category in a stunning effort that saw her come back from the dead after losing in the quarterfinals.

Sakshi fought five bruising battles against equally determined opponents in a single day before securing the podium place.

She had lost her quarterfinal bout, but got a fresh lease of life when her Russian conqueror reached the final, allowing the Indian to compete in the Repechage round.

Sakshi climbed the medal rostrum with a spectacular come-from-behind 8-5 win over Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan after trailing 0-5 in the first period.

She jumped on the mat with ear-to-ear smile before being hoisted by her coach Kuldeep Singh with the Indian tri-colour draped around her.

The scene must have been highly inspiring for all and sundry watching it at the stadium here or the millions glued in front of TV sets at home, and would act as the perfect shot-in-the-arm for Sindhu as she prepares to take on Japan's Nokomo Okuhara in the women's singles semifinals.

Sindhu remains the country's lone medal hope in the badminton event after Kidambi Srikanth suffered a fighting loss against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the men's singles quarterfinals on day 12 yesterday.

Sindhu scripted a stellar 22-20, 21-19 win against former world number one and London Games silver medalist Wang Yihan to enter the women's semifinals.

A win against Japan's Okuhara in the semifinal tomorrow will assure Sindhu of at least a silver, that would be only the second medal for India at the Games.

There's also the case of freestyle grappler Narsingh Yadav which is to come up before the Court of Arbitration for Sports during the day after the clean chit given to him by National Anti-Doping Agency just before the Games began after a positive drug test in June has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

But the inspirational story for India after nearly 12 days of frustrating wait for the elusive medal was scripted by a woman grappler who was not expected to be its heroine.

In fact, Sakshi's sensational third place finish came after her teammate Vinesh Phogat was stretchered off after suffering a leg injury that was later found out as a knee ligament tear in her 48kg quarterfinal bout against China's Sun Yanan.

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