Paris Olympics: In painful reminder of Vinesh Phogat at Rio 2016, Nisha Dahiya’s maiden Olympics turns into nightmare as injury results in loss of bout she was dominating

The 2016 Rio Olympics threw a painful twist in the dreams of Vinesh Phogat when a knee dislocation saw her sprawled on the mat, the camera overhead capturing the pain the Indian was enduring at her maiden Olympics. On Monday at the Grand Palais Ephemere in Paris, history repeated itself, only this time it was 68 kg Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya who suffered a heart-breaking injury of her own, with the camera once again hovering over the Haryana wrestler as she lay in pain, capturing a similar visual to the one all too familiar for Indian wrestling.

Dahiya, a first-time Olympian, faced Ukraine’s Tetiana Rizhko Sova in her first match at the Paris Olympics on Monday. Tetiana landed two takedowns in the first period to put the Indian under the pump. But Dahiya won a point by pushing the Ukrainian out of the mat for the score to end 4-1 in the first period. In the second, she went on the offensive and was immediately rewarded for grabbing the Ukranian’s waist in a takedown. Tetiana tried to respond with a takedown of her own but was thwarted by Dahiya, who then pushed her opponent out of bounds for another point.

At 4-4, the Indian took her time and with the clock ticking down, landed a takedown with 11 seconds remaining. At 6-4, Dahiya ran down the timer and made sure her first Olympic match was a win.

Her second bout seemed to be going even easier, at least initially. In fact, all it took was 10 seconds for her to register the first takedown against North Korea’s Pak Sol Gum – a quick rush to grab the left knee but a quicker change of direction to the right put the opponent on the mat. Pak gave up another two points when she tried to grab Dahiya’s leg but got turned over instead.

Turn of events

At the start of the second round, the Indian was pushed out of bounds and that is when things started to go south for her. Dahiya gained the next four points but it became obvious that the North Korean was targeting the Indian’s bandaged right arm, trying to lock it and then pull at it.

Paris: India’s Nisha Nisha and North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak, left, compete during their women’s freestyle 68kg wrestling quarterfinal match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko via PTI)(PTI08_05_2024_000481A)

It was during an attempted counter, with just a minute to go, where it soon turned into a nightmare for Dahiya. Pak shot for a takedown and the scramble to save two points saw the 25-year-old Indian twist the already-injured arm. Dahiya called for medical attention, and was in obvious pain while leading 8-1 with a minute on the clock remaining.

After the timeout, Pak quickly attempted a takedown but had to settle for Dahiya stepping out of bounds and giving up a point. But the Indian’s brave defence finally gave way when the second medical break was taken by her. Crying and clearly in pain, there wasn’t much the doctors could do for her arm at that time.

With just over 30 seconds left in the bout, Pak capitalised, took the Indian down and then rolled her over twice to gain a quick six points. At 8-8, Dahiya had to take her final medical timeout. But with mere seconds remaining on the clock, Pak landed another takedown and the match went in her favour.

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The North Korean next faces consensus favourite for the Women’s 68kg crown, USA’s Amit Elor. Even if repechage provides a glimmer of light, the Indian’s reaction showed that her Paris Olympics was done.

Incidentally, Vinesh will be the Indian wrestler in action on Tuesday when she faces Japan’s legendary Yui Susaki in her first bout.

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