After losing in the final of the men’s 57kg freestyle division against the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) Zavur Uguev on Thursday, Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya won silver in his first Olympics. The medal today takes India’s tally to a total of 6 medals, making it a great Olympic season. Following P.V Sindhu’s win, this is India’s 2nd silver medal.
Dahiya was inspired by Olympian Sushil Kumar, who earned a silver medal in wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics. After the first period, Russia Uguev, the No. 2 seed, got the upper hand, winning 4-2. Uguev, the world champion in 2018 and 2019, has won 25 consecutive international matches.
After KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, and Sakshi Malik, he is the fifth Indian wrestler to win an Olympic medal.
When Jadhav earned a bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he became India’s first wrestler and the country’s first individual Olympic medalist. Following that, Sushil Kumar raised the prominence of wrestling by earning a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then improved the color of the medal by capturing a historic silver at the 2012 London Olympics, making him India’s lone individual Olympic medalist.
Dahiya defeated Tigreros Urbano from Colombia in the first round with a great margin of 13-2. The next round was against Gerogi Valentinov Vangelov of Bulargia. Ravi comfortable sailed through the round defeating him by 14-4.
Read also: Olympics: Wrestlers Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia secure semifinal berths
Ravi made a strong comeback by scoring two points, but Zavur Uguey had the upper hand and he ended up scoring two more to go up 4-2. Ravi attempted a comeback in the first quarter, but the score at the half remained 4-2 in favor of Uguev.
In the second period, Uguev pushed the Indian out once again to take a 5-2 lead. Ravi attempted a comeback, but Uguey was strong and didn’t concede a point. Uguey was leading 7-2 but Ravi made a comeback to score 2 points taking total tally to 4-7.
