After losing the gold medal match 4-7 to a Russian wrestler on Thursday, Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya became the second Indian wrestler to earn an Olympic silver medal, following Sushil Kumar.
The Russian, ZavurUgeuv, a two-time World Championships gold medalist, was simply too strong for the Indian, and despite his best attempts, he was unable to overcome him at any point throughout the match.
His Career
Ravi Kumar Dahiya is a wrestler from Nahri village in Sonipat, Haryana, who is 23 years old. He used to train in the famed Chhatrasal Stadium, which has produced Olympians such as Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt. Satpal Singh, a Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Dronacharya Award, and Arjuna Award recipient who coached several wrestling champions, was his guru.
In the men’s 57kg freestyle division, he is the reigning Asian Champion and a bronze medalist at the 2019 World Championships. He was a silver medallist at the 2018 U23 World Championships, having reached the final and won a handful of ranking series in 61 kg before the Games.
About the Match
Ravi had a very strong opponent in the men’s freestyle 57kg final, Russian Olympic Committee’s ZavurUguev. In the men’s 57kg freestyle category, Ugeuv is the two-time defending world champion.
Ravi had advanced to the men’s freestyle 57kg semi-finals with two massive victories in the 1/8 and 1/4 finals, first against a Colombian wrestler 13-2 and then over a Bulgarian wrestler 14-4.
On Tuesday, he was brutal in his return to qualify for the final. Ravi put up a great fight in the final, just like he did in the semi, but the Russian was able to win 7-4.
Sushil earned a silver and YogeshwareDutt a bronze in 2012, Sakshi Malik wrote her name in the Olympic history books with a bronze in 2016, and now Ravi has won a silver for India.
