JAKARTA: The national coach, Kuldeep Singh, is a bit subdued when talking about how the wrestlers have performed during the first three days of the Asian Games.
“I want to say I am happy but that will be a lie. There was scope for more medals, gold medals too.” Small mistakes, he says, cost the team 2-3 medals. But when the conversation shifts to Divya Kakran, the women’s 68-kg freestyle wrestler who bagged bronze on Tuesday, he speaks with a glint in his eyes. “She is destined for great things and she again showed it today. She is one of our best wrestlers in her age-group.”
She had already proved her ample talent during her first senior assignment, the Asian Championships in New Delhi last year. She finished with a silver. But Divya, who is just 20, is a unique wrestler and made her name long before she started wearing the India jersey. She was one of the very few women wrestlers who repeatedly used to wrestle and beat men in the akhadas of North India. She became so popular that BBC Hindi was compelled to do a documentary on her.
“It obviously helps when you come from that sort of a background because you know how strong you can be as an athlete,” one of the other coaches of the team says. “I would be very surprised if she doesn’t grow into a very fine wrestler over the next few years.” It wasn’t always like this, as Divya narrates in the documentary.
“Generally, there wasn’t much money while wrestling and what I earned did not even make up for the bus fare. Once I went to a village for an event, where a person said, ‘if this girl defeats my son (her fame had already spread by then), I will pay a reward of Rs 500’. My expression was ‘oh boy’. That would be wonderful.” She pinned him down with ease and the admirers were so much in awe they gave Rs 3000 to her. She has won her amount of admirers since then.