India’s star wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya scripted history at the Tokyo Olympics by winning a silver medal for India. The reigning Asian Champion, Ravi Kumar Dahiya lost the Gold Medal bout in the finals of the Men’s 57 kg Wrestling event. The world champion Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee beats Ravi with a margin of 7-4.
Ravi Kumar becomes the second Indian wrestler in the history of the Olympics to clinch a silver medal. He is the first male athlete to secure a medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics. He is only the sixth Indian athlete to win an individual silver medal in Olympics history.
Ravi defeated Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan with a win by fall in the semifinals of the Men’s 57kg freestyle category. Dahiya made a sensational comeback to pull off a historic victory. Ravi Dahiya was trailing 2-9 just 10 seconds into the second round. The Haryana youngster kept his nerves calm and made a stunning comeback to book the place in the finals. He showed grit, determination, and tenacity to come back from 9-2 down and get the better of Kazakhstan’s Sanayev.
Before him, only one wrestler has won a silver medal at the Olympics for India – Sushil Kumar (London 2012). Ravi Kumar Dahiya also becomes the fifth wrestler from India to win an Olympic medal after KD Jadhav (bronze in 1952), Sushil Kumar (bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012), and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze in 2012), and Sakshi Malik (bronze in 2016).
Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya’s Journey to Tokyo Olympics
Ravi Kumar Dahiya comes from the Nahri village in the Sonipat district of Haryana and had started wrestling at the age of ten. He was trained at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi under the guidance of coach Satpal Singh.
His father would travel from his hometown to the stadium with milk, fruits, and other food items to ensure Dahiya could maintain a proper diet during his training. Coming from a humble background, Dahiya’s family was always open to their son pursuing wrestling as a career and left no stones unturned in nurturing him for greater challenges on the mat.
Dahiya make it to the headlines when he bagged a silver medal in the 2015 World Junior Wrestling Championship in Brazil. And since then he has never looked back. Dahiya won the silver medal at the 2018 World U23 Wrestling Championship. Then, in 2019 he bagged a bronze medal in the World Championships. And booked his place in the Tokyo Olympics.
In the 2019 Pro Wrestling League, Ravi was unbeaten in the tournament and was also part of the winning team, Haryana Hammers. Ravi’s biggest achievement came in when he won two back-to-back gold medals in the Asian Championships in 2020 and 2021.
Dahiya now will be aiming to win the gold medal in the Olympics. No Indian wrestler has so far managed to win a gold medal for India in the Olympics. Ravi has a great chance of creating history in the finals of the Men’s 57kg freestyle Wrestling event on Thursday.