new delhi the countrys sporting fraternity led by iconic cricketer sachin tendulkar hailed female wrestler sakshi malik for clinching a historic bronze to end indias frustrating wait for a medal in the rio olympicstendulkar praised sakshi for her resilience in the womens wrestling 58kg class and said that the country was proud of her featwish sakshi malik indias first medal winner at riowhat great news to wake up to sakshimalik your resilience at rio2016 has made whole of india proud many congratulations tendulkar who is also goodwill ambassador of the indian contingent at the rio games saidthe countrys lone individual olympic gold medal winner abhinav bindra lauded sakshi for lifting the spirits of every indiancongratulations snd felicitations to sakshi malik what a great performance thank you for lifting the spirits of every indian shooter bindra who won a gold in 10m air rifle event in 2008 beijing olympics saidbindra had finished fourth in the 10m air rifle event in the rio gameslast night sakshi ended the countrys painful wait for a medal at the rio olympic games by clinching the bronze in the 58kg category pulling off a sensational 85 victory over her rival in the playoff boutthe 23yearold from rohtak became only the fourth woman athlete from india to win an olympic medal as she earned the dramatic win after falling behind 05 in the doordie bout on day 12 she became the first indian woman wrestler to have won a medal in the olympics her bronze is the countrys fifth medal overall in wrestling at the olympicsindias only individual olympic double medallist wrestler sushil kumar congratulated sakshi describing her feat as pathbreakingshe has done what no indian girl has done before a real hero sakshimalik u have set a path 4 many more 2 follow u sushil who a bronze in 2008 olympics and a silver in 2012 games wrotelondon games bronze medallist boxer mary kom and beijing olympics bronze winner pugilist vijender singh also patted sakshi for her historic achievementcongratulation sakshimalik be strong rio2016 wrestling kheloindia mary kom tweetedbow down to sakshimalik s mother as wellwho encouraged her 2 pursue wrestling tdy a country of125bn is rejoicing vijender tweetedanother london games bronze medallist shooter gagan narang tweeted when a bronze is heavier than a gold sakshimalik take a bowindian cricket limitedover captain mahendra singh dhoni also applauded sakshi for her determination and self belief she showed en route winning the bronzegreat comeback by sakshi malik 2 win our 1st medal in riodetermination and self belief r the key for a performance like this congratulation dhoni tweetedother indian cricketers also congratulated sakshi on clinching the bronzesakshimalik is a reminder of what cn happn if u dont kill a girl childwhen d going gets toughits our girls who get going save our pride tweeted former opening batsman virender sehwag congratulations to sakshimalik on winning the bronze in womens freestyle 58kg to give india its first medalwe are proud of u rio2016 former india batsman v v s laxman