Divya Kakran is desperate to change the colour of her medals but the 20-year-old wrestler also knows she must learn to bide her time.
After a silver at the Asian Championships in 2017 and a bronze at the CWG this year, Divya finished third yet again on Tuesday, making short work of Chen Wenling for a 10-0 technical superiority victory and bronze in the 68kg.
The bout was over in 89 seconds and Divya, disappointed at having missed a shot at the title, was nevertheless beaming.
“This is my first Asian Games and I have won a medal, that is big for me. I am still learning at the senior level and I know I will only better from here. A different medal would have been better but I am not disappointed. In fact, I was not confident of winning so quickly but my coach [Kuldeep Malik] was,” she said.
Racing to a 6-0 lead in 50 seconds, Divya did not allow her opponent even a whisker of chance to fight back in the one-sided contest.
“All I was told was to get on the mat, attack and finish it off in a couple of minutes. I did not know how I would do it and even told the coach it was not possible. But he said you can do it in less than a minute. I am only disappointed that it took me 30 seconds more,” she laughed.
The easy laughter was in complete contrast to her quarterfinal bout, when she lost to Sharkhuu Tumentsetseg of Mongolia 11-1, and had refused to look at anyone walking back to the warm-up area.
