Tokyo Olympics: Ravi Kumar Dahiya ensures at least a silver medal for India; enters men’s freestyle 57kg wrestling final

India were assured of at least a silver medal in the men’s freestyle wrestling 57kg category as Ravi Kumar Dahiya staged a great comeback against Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev to make his way to the final.

The bout started in a cagey fashion with both wrestlers registering points in the initial minutes of the first round. But Sanayev almost won the match as he registered 8 points in a row by pulling off the dreaded ‘fitele’ move. Sanayez grabbed Ravi by the ankles and rolled the Indian wrestler four times, which gave him the 8 points to take the advantage to 9-2.

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But Ravi Kumar staged a grand comeback as he first reduced the deficit to 5-9, as he pushed the Kazakh out of the mat. This move of Ravi’s left Sanayez bamboozled as he also hurt his leg.

The Indian wrestler then made his psychological advantage count as he pinned the Kazakh wrestler down with a great move to eventually win the bout ‘by fall’.

He will the fourth 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 2008).

Ravi is a two-time Asian Championships gold medallist and a bronze medal winner at the World Championships in 2019.

(More to follow…)