When Marwa Amri was last on Indian TV screens three months ago, she had just won bronze at the Olympics, and after flag-waving celebrations with her coach, was sharing the podium with Sakshi Malik. Air Force 1 Scontate . It was a special moment for India but it was an even bigger moment for Amri - shed become not just the first Tunisian but the first African woman to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.On Saturday, Amri, 27, was at a promotional event in Mumbai. Dressed trendily, her highlighted hair tumbling down, she fit right in at the upmarket Mumbai hotel where this correspondent met her. What stood out, though, was the large bronze disc that she kept close to her and gazed at from time to time.Life has changed a lot, Amri said.The bronze medal isnt just a validation of all the hours and years of hard work she put into the game, it has also become a passport to a different world. In India as a guest of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), Amri has been feted, done the Bollywood round - posing for pictures outside Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khans houses - and is now set to attend a big fat Indian wedding when fellow wrestler Geeta Phogat ties the knot on November 20.Im very, very happy, she said. I couldnt sleep for two days after I won the medal, it was a little unbelievable. I slept with the medal the day I won it. Now I get called for events and functions.The upcoming PWL will be her first event after the Olympics, where she defeated Azerbaijans Yuliya Ratkevich 6-3 in the 58-kg bronze medal bout to create African sporting history. I was aware of the history I was about to create, and it was added pressure during the Olympics, she said. Her medal was won in the last ten seconds, when she lifted Raktevich off her feet and pinned her for a four-pointer. In one move she overcame the 2-3 deficit and launched her country in a new territory of athletic success.Before that I had won a few big medals, African championships, world championships, but this was the one I really wanted. In those last ten seconds, I knew when I went in for the move that I would get at least two points, I had to. When the final whistle blew, Amri sank to her knees and let the tears flow. Her coach Zouhair Seighir then carried her on his shoulders for a victory lap.My coach, he has been with me for about 10 years, she said. There were so many times when I wanted to give up, when I was losing or things were not going my way. Wrestling is not big in Tunisia, and I would ask him why are there no camps set up for me, why dont I have better sparring partners, he would ask me to calm down and train. He used to be a wrestler in his day, and had played a few international competitions, but never the Olympics. He taught me to dream. He would keep me going on when I wanted to quit.****The oldest of four siblings, Amri grew up with a sense of responsibility. Her father had died when she was nine and she would help her mother bake bread to keep the household running. At 11, Amri found wrestling.I just took it up because I liked it... my school had an indoor hall and mat. Tunis, the capital city that obsessed over football, had little to give a budding woman wrestler. Forget Tunis, the whole of Tunisia had about seven womens wrestlers when I started, Amri recalls. I used to spar with boys. While they are stronger, women react to situations differently and come up with techniques or moves that are unexpected. Ask her to explain, and she says that men go more by the textbook while women are better at improvising. Also, there wasnt much money to fund my international trips. Ahead of the bigger competitions, like the African championships, the government would help but otherwise I had to fend for myself. None of the girls that I started with continued. One of her younger sisters also took up the sport but gave up quickly because she didnt enjoy it. Amri, though, kept stoking her dream. She got a degree in physical education and worked as a PE instructor in a school in the town of El Omrane. The down time was spent watching Indian movies and serials, which were dubbed in Arabic.I would work every day. Finish training, then go to work, then back to training. The schedule - two sessions of two hours every day, with a focus on diet and cardio closer to events - wouldnt ease even during the month of Ramadan.The Olympic dream first became a reality in 2008, when she competed at the Beijing Games. I finished 10th in Beijing (in 55 kg). But having competed there, I knew I could win an Olympic medal. I was a little better in London (she made the quarterfinals). And this time I just didnt want to let it go. Amri had made the bronze medal bout through the repechage round and pinned down the opportunity with dramatic flair.Have things changed in Tunisia for women wrestlers? Not really, she concedes; theres too many more girls joining the sport, or sponsors coming in, but she hopes things will change in the near future. Its not impossible, she says. And another twirl of the bronze medal validates her belief.(Deepti Patwardhan is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai) Air Force 1 Alte 2020 . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Air Force 1 Outlet Italia . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. http://www.airforce1outletitalia.it/scontate-air-force-1-n7.html . Canada is now down to its 22-player limit, although but players wont be registered until Christmas Day. Changes could still be made as a result of a suspension or injury. Jason Taylor empathises with embattled Wests Tigers star Robbie Farah, recalling how he wrote letters to coaches begging for another shot in the NRL when he was axed from first grade in his own playing days.With Farah expected to line up for his second reserve grade game in as many weeks on Saturday, Taylor on Friday admitted he felt for the out-of-favour hooker.I was dropped to reserve grade a few times through my career and that gives you an understanding and an empathy for the players that are going through it, said the Tigers coach.Taylor remembered how he was controversially dropped by Northern Eagles coach Peter Sharp late in 2000, ending what was then a record 194 consecutive games in first grade.It stood almost 15 years before it was broken by Gold Coast prop Luke Douglas in 2014.But despite the setback, Taylor, in the twilight of his career, swallowed his pride and begged for another opportunity to stay in the NRL.Then-Parramatta coach Brian Smith threw the point-scoring halfback a lifeline, and was rewarded with Taylor helping the club to its first grand final in 16 years.My career was pretty much at an end and you mightt remember I actually sat down and wrote letters to some NRL coaches to try and get a start the following year, Taylor said. Air Force 1 Alte Hand Wash Cold. Brian Smith gave me an opportunity and I ended up playing in that grand final. You never know whats around the corner and often it can be a really positive outcome.Taylor praised Farah for putting in a strong performance for the clubs NSW Cup team in what was an emotional week for the 2005 premiership winner.As Robbie tweeted last week, the toughest times that you go through, those are the ones that determine where youre going to get to in life, he said.It hurts at first, but you bounce back up and you get on with it. Robbie did that really well last week and I was very impressed by that.Farah, 32, has already been linked with a move out of Concord, but Taylor said he was unaware of any negotiations that would lead to the hookers departure.Robbies got a contract for next year at this stage. That stuff will happen, Id assume, but I dont know anything about it, he said. ' ' '
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