When Navjot Kaur took to the mat for the 65kg final in the Asian Championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, the 28-year-old was fighting history. Indian women wrestlers had reached this far 13 times, with the Punjab wrestler herself losing a final in 2013 and was under pressure after having lost to Miyu Imai in the group stage.

But the 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist twice earned 4-point throws on counters to beat Imai 9-1 in the final to become the first Indian woman to win the gold medal and could not contain her jubilation as she took a victory lap on the shoulder of her two coaches. “This is the best day of my life since I started wrestling,” a jubilant Kaur, who started learning the ropes of the sport back in 2004, told the official world wrestling website.

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“This pressure was something that every athlete was having at the Asian Championships,” Kaur said. “But this time, I decided, No, I will compete without pressure. I have just one chance to prove myself, so I was prepared. I won’t feel any pressure, let me go and play my natural game.

“Now I have won and I’m proud to become the first woman from India to win a gold at the Asian Championships.”

Kaur acknowledged the support of her coaches and support staff after the triumph and dedicated her title to the whole nation by calling the medal a “gift of Holi to the country.”

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“I have been preparing for this and waiting for this for very long,” she said. “At the national camp, I was supported and motivated by the whole team, including the coaches and the medical staff.

“I was a bit nervous, being on this platform and you have a lot of load on your shoulders. But I was confident. I was encouraged too: ‘No, you can do it, you can beat Japan, it’s not something that you can’t achieve.’”, she added.