Coach cries foul play after Indian wrestler loses due to injury: 'They hurt her intentionally after instruction from Korean corner'

Indian grappler Nisha Dahiya was left sobbing in acute pain after she lost her quarterfinal bout against North Korea's Pak Sol Gum

While it was heartbreak for Lakshya Sen and the pair of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka, the extent of Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya's pain was much more. Nisha, India's only entry in the heavyweight category, was 90 seconds away from reaching the semifinal but an injury midway during her bout left her crying.

Tears were visible as Nisha was seen in distress after enduring a 8-10 defeat against North Korea's Pak Sol Gum in the women's 68 kg quarterfinal at the Paris Olympics. Nisha was leading 8-1 with 90 seconds left in the bout. However, the Indian grappler then sustained a serious injury on her right hand, following which Nisha wept inconsolably.

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Such was her condition that she took a medical break but with no further strength on her right arm it became a cakewalk for the North Korean, who snatched nine straight points and showed zero consideration about her opponent's injury.

In fact 10 seconds were remaining on the clock when the scoreline read 8-8, however, withered with pain Nisha surrendered in the dying moments without a fight.

Indian Nisha Dahiya was leading the game 8-2 until the thirty seconds before the final. Then she got a shoulder injury and lost 10-8.

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That was the reaction of her and the crowd after the game.

Heartbreaking #Paris2024 #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/3gkKixx29G

— AEK (@zoranbata) August 5, 2024

Following the bout, Nisha was rushed to a medical facility inside the Games Village for scan.

India's national coach Virender Dahiya seemed furious with the proceedings and didn't hesitate to point fingers at the North Korean, even claiming that her opponent intentionally hurt Nisha to put her out of the contest.

"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," Dahiya was quoted as saying by 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."

If the Korean makes the final, Nisha can bounce back in the medal contention but even if she gets the repechage, the extent of her injury would determine if she can take the mat or not. .

Earlier, Nisha had won her opening bout against Ukraine's Sova Rizhko 6-4 as the wrestling competition got underway at the Games. Nisha is an Asian Championships silver medallist and got the better of her opponent from Ukraine without much trouble.

-with PTI inputs