After two weeks and 306 events, the 2016 Rio Olympics finally comes to an end. In the closing ceremony that will be held later in the night, India have appointed wrestler Sakshi Malik as their flag bearer.
Sakshi created history as she won the first medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics. In the 58kg wrestling freestyle event round of 16, Sakshi defeated Romania's Esanu Cherdivara to enter the quarter-final. However, she lost to Russia's Zholobova Khoblova but with the Russian wrestler entering the final, Sakshi entered the repechage round.
In the repechage round, she defeated Kyrgyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova 8-5 in a thrilling match to secure a historic bronze. Sakshi is only the fourth Indian woman athlete to win an Olympic medal after Karnam Malleshwari, Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal. In three of the four bouts that happened earlier, Sakshi won after coming from behind.
PV Sindhu gave India plenty of joy as she became the first female shuttler to win the silver medal in the Olympics. The success of Sindhu and Sakshi gave India something to cheer in what was otherwise a disappointing Olympics.
-With Inputs from Suprita Das-