File photo of Divya Kakran. UWW
Wrestler Divya Kakran on Friday clinched the bronze medal by beating Tiger Lily of Tonga in under 26 seconds, by fall.
Divya had beaten Blandine Nyeh NGIRI of Cameroon in the repechage round, but lost to Nigeria’s Blessing OBORUDUDU in the women’s 68kg freestyle quarter-final.
It has not been easy for the 23-year-old Divya. COVID-19 had spoilt Divya Kakran’s Tokyo Olympics dreams last year, eventually missing out on the Olympics berth. She had eventually lost her sponsors, persuading her to reconsider about her wrestling career.
However, her fortunes changed with in the span of a month when she won the CWG trials, and followed it up with a gold in the 2022 Bolat Turlykhanov Cup in June this year.
“This medal means a lot,” Divya had told Firstpost in June. “I had to work really hard to show my worth to everyone but myself. Winning the CWG trials was a confident booster but doing it on the world stage meant I have it in me,” she had added.