Kolkata: Sakshi Malik and Bhaichung Bhutia, the two names that will be stuck with the history of Indian sports forever as the former being the first woman Olympic medalist in wrestling while later being of one of the greatest footballers ever to come out of the Nation.
Sakshi spoke about a crucial training camp abroad which helped her clinching that Olympic medal in Rio 2016. “Before the Rio Olympics, we had training camps abroad wherein we could train with partners from different countries. I had wrestling matches against World and Olympic medalists. I learned a lot of techniques and gained a lot of experience. So, the three-month training period abroad was very important for me. The training camp gave me a lot of exposure and it helped me immensely to win an Olympic medal,” added Malik
Catch @SakshiMalik on the fourth episode of #TheAGame reliving her historic day at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she gave India its first medal in women’s wrestling.
🎥Watch the full episode here👉https://t.co/2RncBBtqGd@Pvsindhu1 @Visa_IND#TheAGame #DecodingSuccess pic.twitter.com/gssliYdEna
— Baseline Ventures (@baselineventure) October 24, 2020
After trailing 0-5 against Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the repackage medal playoff at Rio, Sakshi fought back in fine fashion winning the bout 8-5.
“I was down 0-5, but I knew that I had a lot of time to make a comeback and I had made comebacks in my previous matches. My coach Kuldeep sir was telling me to play my own game, play an attacking wrestling game. When I started playing aggressively, I started to win points. I didn’t give up until the last second and gave my 100 percent to win the match and the Olympic medal,” the 28-year-old further added
Former Indian skipper Baichung opened up about being part of that historic moment in 2008 when the Indian booked their place in the AFC Asian Cup finals for the first time in 27 years while leading the side that beat Tajikistan in the final of the AFC Challenge Cup.
“We knew that Tajikistan was the best team in the tournament and we had played out a draw in the league matches. But, sometimes, you have those matches where, whatever you do, it goes right. The final was one of those matches. Our first three shots were all goals. That gave us a lot of confidence and it obviously got the match under our control,” added Bhutia about that night.
Listen to the story of the historic triumph of the Indian Football team at the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 told by one of India's greatest ever footballers @bhaichung15 on this final episode #TheAGame.🙌
Watch it here: https://t.co/FoGRSK1VKn@Pvsindhu1 @Visa_IND #DecodingSuccess pic.twitter.com/S90JiXst7o
— Baseline Ventures (@baselineventure) October 31, 2020
The 43-year-old also spoke about the chats happened between him and his teammates on the night of that final “My advice to the boys was that we have been preparing for this tournament for one year and we can’t let it slip with just one game remaining so we need to make sure that we give our best to win this tournament and get into the Asia Cup.”
