2020 Tokyo Olympics: Wrestler Ravi Dahiya puts up a brave effort in final, bags silver
By Newsmeter Network Published on 5 Aug 2021 12:34 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya, who surprised one and all with his outstanding wrestling skills and reached the final of the Men's Freestyle 57kg category in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, lost to the current world champion, Zavur Uguev from Russia, by 7-4 and bagged the silver medal. This is India's second silver after Mirabai Chanu won a silver in women's weightlifting.
Ravi Dahiya put up an exceptional fight against the world champion and was great in his defense but Uguev pushed him to the passivity zone to gain the first point of the match right as the 5th minute started.
The wrestlers got back to the centre and started again as none of them were in the mood to give away points. With tough defense, it was even more difficult to gain a point. But the world champion took Dahiya, seeded 4th, to the passivity zone once again as he gained another point to make it 2-0.
After several tackles, Dahiya was finally able to break the shackles as he put the Russian down for a good amount of time and gained an equalizing two points. With the clock ticking and points being two a piece, both looked to score and gain a lead.
In less than 10 seconds after Dahiya's equalizer, Uguev pinned the Indian down to gain two more points and made it 4-2. As the clock kept ticking and the bout was reaching its end, Uguev scored three more points to which Ravi fought back and scored two more points to his name.
In the last few seconds of the game, Dahiya tried his best to score a point but the world champion and big-match player was a little too good for the Olympic debutant from India. Soon, the bout came to an end and the Russian Olympic Committee's Zavur Uguev was declared the winner by three points.
Dahiya settled for silver and became India's second silver medalist at Tokyo after Mirabai Chanu. This also took India's medal tally to five, just one short of its performance at London in 2012 where India won six medals (2 silver, 4 bronze).
On the other end, India's Deepak Punia lost a very close battle in the Men's Freestyle 87kg category bronze medal match by 4-2 in the last 10 seconds of the bout. He was leading the entire bout by 2-1 and had a rock-solid defense but couldn't maintain the same form against Myles Amine of San Marino.
