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.
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“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.
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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.