The 23-year-old Indian wrestler was always chasing two-time defending world champion Uguev in the final as he ended up losing the bout 4-7.
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Ravi Kumar Dahiya’s dream Olympic run ended with a silver medal after the Indian lost to the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) Zavur Uguev in the final of the men’s 57kg freestyle category at the Tokyo Olympics. The 23-year-old wrestler was always chasing two-time defending world champion Uguev in the final as he ended up losing the bout 4-7 to settle for the silver medal. India now has five Olympic medals in Tokyo following Ravi’s exploits. Earlier, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu opened the country’s medal account with a silver, while shuttler PV Sindhu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain and the Indian men’s hockey team had won the Bronze medal in the Japanese capital. The country has already earned more medals than the two it won in Rio in 2016. However, India is still one medal away from matching their best-ever tally of six, which they achieved at the 2012 London Games.
Ravi began his journey on Thursday, hoping to become the country’s second individual gold medallist. However, his experienced opponent began dictating the tempo from the start, and Dahiya was constantly playing catch up. Despite losing in the final, Ravi is only the second Indian to win a silver medal in wrestling, following Sushil Kumar, who won the same medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
Congratulations bhai #Ravikumar for the medal.
You are a true warrior ??#Tokyo2020 #Silver pic.twitter.com/18ocC1smTn— Bajrang Punia ?? (@BajrangPunia) August 5, 2021
Notably, Ravi Kumar is only the fifth Indian wrestler after KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, and Sakshi Malik to finish on the Olympic podium. Sushil and Ravi are the only two to win silver medals, while the rest managed bronze. It is also the fourth Olympics in a row in which Indian wrestlers have won at least one medal. From 2008 to 2020 Tokyo Games, no other sport from the country has contributed to India’s Olympic medal haul more than wrestling.
Indian wrestlers have won five Olympic medals starting from Beijing. Sushil started it with a bronze in the 2008 Games and upgraded it to silver in 2012 London, while Yogeshwar Dutt clinched a bronze in 2012 and Sakshi Malik bagged a bronze in Rio 2016. Now, Ravi Kumar Dahiya has joined that illustrious club, winning a silver in Tokyo. Earlier in 1952, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav had won a bronze, which was India’s first wrestling medal. Since the beginning of the Summer Games, Indian wrestlers have won a total of six Olympic medals.
Earlier on Thursday, Uguev earned the first point of the bout following a tense start in which both wrestlers defended admirably. Uguev quickly doubled the lead to make it 2-0. Ravi then made a strong comeback, picking up two points to level the score. However, the ROC wrestler quickly reclaimed the lead, scoring two points of his own to go up 4-2. Ravi attempted a comeback in the first period, but was unable to change the score, which remained 4-2 in favour of Uguev at the interval.
The second session began with the experienced ROC player on the front foot, pushing the Indian out again to make it 5-2. Ravi, on the other hand, would not give up and continued to push hard, but his opponent defended extremely well under pressure. Soon after, Uguev went up 7-2, and it looked like game over for the Indian. Ravi, who was not in the mood to give up, rallied back and scored two more points to make the score 4-7, and pushed his opponent hard in the final seconds. Uguev, on the other hand, hung on to the victory thanks to his excellent defensive abilities.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ravi Kumar Dahiya assured India of its fourth medal at the Tokyo Olympics by qualifying for the final. The 23-year-old defeated the Kazakh Nurislam Sanayev via a victory by fall to confirm his slot in the final. He had incredibly come back from 2-9 down to achieve a victory by fall. Prior to that, the Indian had beaten Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov in the quarterfinal and Colombia’s Oscar Tigreros in the round of 16 by technical superiority.
