"Sir, journey to bahut lambi hai (The journey is very long)," said Sakshi Malik late on Wednesday after winning a bronze in wrestling, India's first overall medal here at the Rio Games.
The 23-year-old from Haryana was pointing towards the hardships that she had to go through in the last 12 years since to reach so far. "Meri 12 saal ki tapasya rang laayi (My 12 years of hard work has borne fruit)," Sakshi said as tears of joy streamed down her cheeks.
A silver medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Sakshi made a dramatic comeback from 0-5 to win 8-5 win over Kyrgysztan's Aisuluu Tynybekova.
"It was not easy to concentrate after seeing Vinesh Phogat, my good friend, get injured during a bout," said the bronze medallist, adding: "I was sure that Vinesh was going to win a medal. But after her injury, I felt it was up to me to do everything and that firmed up my determination."
What was going on in her mind when she was 0-5 down at the half time stage? "I never gave up. I knew I would win if I lasted full six minutes. Coach sir was also reminding me that time has come to attack. I had the self belief," said the Rohtak girl.
There was about two and a half hour gap between Sakshi's fights on Wednesday and it was a nervous phase for her as she did not want to let anything to disturb her thought process.
"Two and a half hours, I rested. Coach sir kept telling me from the start of the day that you are strong, that you are going to get a medal. I would have won the earlier bout had I not made mistakes. I was reminded time and again that I'm strong, and never let my morale fall. Those two-three hours were spent with great difficulty," said Sakshi.
Like in three of the four other bouts earlier before Sakshi's one, the Indian also repeated the same trick.
"Right till the end, I thought that I would win. I told myself 'tujhe ladna hai' (you've to fight on). So I pushed myself till the very end. I was confident that the medal is mine. And I've won it after a lot of hard work.
"In my heart, I believed that I could win, and so I was able to live up to the expectations of many people. I had to give my maximum. I believed that if I fought hard for the full six minutes, I'd win the bout," said Sakshi, who qualified through second Olympic Games World Qualifying Tournament in Istanbul.
What next? Is your body sore now after such a long day? "After this medal, I don't feel the pain. If I'd missed the medal, then I'd have realised the pain."
