Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik made a brilliant comeback against Sweden's Johanna Mattsson to win the qualification match 5-4 to progress to the round of 16 in the women's 58 kg freestyle wrestling tournament at the Rio Olympics. Malik was trailing 0-4 after the first period, but downed her opponent as she pushed Mattsson to the corners of the ring. With the clock running down, Malik grabbed two points to win the game.
Mattsson got into an early lead in the game, pinning her opponent as early as the first minute. Malik was thrown off guard and had to shore up her defense to get back in the game. There were some wary touches but what gave the Swede an upper hand in the contest was a quick move to get around Malik's back, just before the first period. Mattson had a vice-like grip on her opponents' back and got two more points on the board to extend her lead to 4-0.
Malik was not going down without a fight and in one fluent move got Mattsson to the corner in what was a superb display of raw power to open her account in the game. Malik fought valiantly and tried hard to take down her opponent through her hips. The momentum had shifted and Malik threw the kitchen sink in the last few seconds, getting around Mattsson's legs. She was rewarded and, yet again, Mattsson was thrown off the playing area as the Indian walked away with two points and the win.
