Women help salvage some pride

The favourites had either come tantalisingly close to winning a medal or fallen prey to injuries as India looked all set to return empty-handed from the Rio Games. Even as the largest Indian contingent ever to an Olympics was turning out to be country’s biggest sporting disappointment, two women helped a country of a billion-plus population salvage some pride on the biggest sporting arena where countries of the size of a dot on the world map had medals to boost for their presence in Brazil. Sakshi Malik, a 21-year-old feisty grappler from the hinterland of Haryana, and P V
Sindhu, a sauve shuttler from the bustling city of
Hyderabad, are as different as the north is from the south of India but they were united in their mission to bring glory to their country. Sakshi’s bronze in the 58kg category and Sindhu’s silver in the women’s singles badminton lent some respectability to an otherwise sorry Indian campaign. For the better part of the Games, the gains made in Beijing 2008 – when India bagged three medals, including a gold – and four years later at the London Games – where six medals adorned Indian athletes’ necks – appeared to have been lost on the Indian sport that has long been plagued by administrative apathy and blatant nepotism.

For a country starved of podium finishes at the largest sporting carnival on the planet, the colour of Sakshi’s metal didn’t matter. What mattered was the mettle the young wrestler showed just when it looked like a lost cause. Down 0-5 at half-way stage, Sakshi pulled off a heist in the final moments of her bronze-medal bout. It was well past midnight in India and most of the country woke up to the first big positive news from the Games. As the day wore on, it turned out to be even better with Sindhu ensuring India its second medal and of better hue. If Sakshi epitomised the never-say-die spirit, Sindhu was all grit and determination as she felled higher-ranked rivals en route her final showdown with Spain’s world No 1 Carolina Marin.  
  
With silver in her pocket, Sindhu whipped up frenzy across the length and breadth of an expectant nation which stayed glued to television sets as she battled valiantly to get India only its second individual gold medal. Sindhu was defeated in a three-game finale but she was hardly disgraced. With her second-place finish, Sindhu scaled a height that no other Indian woman had before. Before Sakshi and Sindhu lit smiles on Indian faces, Dipa Karmakar had made history by becoming the first Indian to make the final of a gymnastics event, reflecting the rise of Indian sportswomen.