 "Indian wrestler celebrates after winning a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics")
Sakshi Malik ended India's medal drought at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday by winning the bronze medal in the Women's Freestyle Wrestling 58kg category.
Sakshi stormed into the history books, in an Olympics headlined by veteran athletes and other promising medal prospects, when she won against Kyrgyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova and became the only Indian woman wrestler to have ever won a medal at the Olympic games.
The young wrestler overturned a 0-5 deficit in a hectic second round to script an 8-5 victory in the medal bout at the Carioca Arena 2.
On her defensive approach that saw her trailing 0-5, Sakshi said: "I never gave up till last, I knew I would win if I lasted till six minutes. In last round, I had to give my maximum, I had the self belief."
#WATCH #SakshiMalik talks to ANI after winning 1st medal for India at #Rio2016, says It's best feeling everhttps://t.co/KHgw1rlZCq
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 18, 2016
After her historic performance at Rio, she said, "Meri 12 saal ki tapasya rang layi (It's the result of my 12 years' fight for day and night). Geeta didi, my senior, had qualified for the first time in London."
Here's all you need to know about her:
1) Sakshi, 23, hails from the Mokhra village, near Rohtak in Haryana. Her father Sukhbir Malik works with the Delhi Transport Corporation while her mother Sudesh is a government employee. Her parents stuck by her side and ensured that their daughter could achieve her dreams.
2) Sakshi began her training at the age of 12 under the guidance of Ishwar Dahiya, reported The Hindu. Her path to Olympic glory was not easy as Dahiya faced protests from locals over his decision to train Sakshi, but the duo persevered and international accolades followed. After clinching India's only medal so far, she said, "To those who told me I am a girl and I could not wrestle, I want to say please show some trust in girls, they can do everything."
3) In 2010, at the age of 19, she brought home bronze in the 59 kg category in the Junior World Championships.
4) The year 2014 would prove to be particularly rewarding for Sakshi as she struck gold at the Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament and then went on to clinch a silver medal at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
5) She followed her commonwealth Games victory with a bronze medal at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha, in 2015.
6) In May this year, Sakshi earned her place at Rio with a silver medal in the Summer Olympics Qualifiers held in Turkey. In July, she followed that up with another bronze at the Spanish GP Wrestling Championship right before she left for Rio.
