Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya was left in tears after dislocating her finger led to a 8-10 loss in women's 68kg freestyle quarterfinal match against North Korea's Sol Gum Pak at the Paris Olympics 2024 on August 5.
Nisha dominated the proceedings taking a 8-1 lead. In the second round, the fight was halted at her request as she injured her right arm. After getting medical assistance, Nisha continued. With 33 seconds left in the game, Nisha could not be at her best and Pak took advantage of it as she scored seven points in 21 seconds. With 12 seconds left on the clock, Nisha took required medical assistance again but could not make a comeback and lost the bout 8-10.
After the loss, Indian national team coach Virender Dahiya was fuming in anger and alleged that the attack on her joint was intentional as the Korean was trailing by a huge margin. He feels that she would have won her maiden medal if not for the alleged attempt to injure the 25-year-old.
"It was 100 percent intentional, they hurt her intentionally. We had seen, there was an instruction from the Korean corner. They attacked the joint. They have taken away the medal from her," Virender Dahiya told PTI.
"The way Nisha had started, the medal was in her neck and it has been taken away. The attacks were clear, the counter-attack worked and the defence was compact. She had beaten the same wrestler at the Asian Qualifier, there was no way Nisha was losing this."
No repechage round for injured Nisha
Nisha was inconsolable after her dreams of winning a medal were thrashed. She was taken to a medical facility inside the Games Village for a scan.
If Pak made it into the final, she would have been in the medal contention. However, the injury has ruled her out of the tournament.
Earlier, Nisha beat Ukraine's Sova Rizhko 6-4 in her opening bout on August 5. She is an Asian Championships silver medallist mentored by Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik.
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