Tokyo Olympics 2021: Ravi Kumar Dahiya won the hearts of the entire nation with his performance in Tokyo as he won silver in the 57 kg freestyle wrestling category. The 23-year-old got a podium finish in his first-ever appearance at the Olympic games. He also became only the second Indian wrestler after Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic silver medal.

Early life:

Ravi Kumar Dahiya was born in the small village of Nahri in Sonipat district, Haryana. He began wrestling training in Delhi at the age of 10. He was coached by Satpal Singh who is famous for coaching two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar among others. 

While training at the famous Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi his father used to make a long journey from their village to deliver fresh fruits and milk every single day. Dahiya's father, who was a small farmer, always supported his dream of becoming a wrestler.

Youth Career:

Ravi Kumar Dahiya played his first major youth tournament in Salvador de Bahia at the 2015 Junior World Wrestling Championships. Competing in the 55 kg freestyle category the Haryana wrestler won the silver medal.

Dahiya faced a major setback in 2017 when he was sidelined due to an injury for over a year. He came back in the 2018 World U23 Wrestling Championship in Bucharest to bag another silver medal in the 57 kg freestyle category.

Road to Tokyo Olympics 2021:

Ravi Kumar Dahiya contested the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships in Xi'an where he finished 4th after losing the bronze medal match. Later that year Dahiya made his World Championship debut where he defeated reigning European Champion champion Arsen Harutyunyan in the round of 16 and the 2017 world champion Yuki Takahashi in the quarterfinal.

Dahiya in the process earned one of the six available quota places for the Olympics 2020. Dahiya lost the Semi-Final bout against eventual winner Zaur Uguev and won the Bronze medal. 

At the 2020 Asian championship in Delhi, Dahiya bagged the Gold medal after defeating Tajikistan's Hikmatullo Vohidov in the final. He retained his Gold medal in the 2021 Asian championship where he defeated Iran's Alireza Sarlak in the final.

Tokyo Olympics 2021:

In the pre-quarterfinal game against Columbian Oscar Tigeros, Ravi Kumar Dahiya stamped his authority with an immense 13-2 win. The Haryana wrestler completely outclassed his opponent to enter the quarter-finals.

The quarter-final bout was another dominating performance by Dahiya against Bulgarian wrestler Georgi Vangelov.Bulgaria had no answer to Dahiya's attack as he succumbed to a 14-4 defeat. After two very dominant performances, Ravi marched onto the semi-finals.

In the Semi-final he was pitted against 2018 Asian games gold medalist Nurislam Sanayev from Kazakhstan. Dahiya was on the back foot at the start and lost a point due to passivity. He soon came back to bag a couple of points and finished the round with a 2-1 lead. The tide turned around completely when Sanayev came out attacking and in no time went 9-2. With just over a minute to go, the Indian wrestler in incredible fashion made a comeback after picking up five points and pinning down his opponent. 

Dahiya qualified for the gold medal match and secured a podium finish. In the final, he lost to Russia's Zavur Uguev by 7-4 as The two time World Champion proved to be too strong for Dahiya who earned a silver medal.

Future:

At the age of 23, Ravi Kumar Dahiya still has a lot of wrestling left in him. A silver medal in his debut Olympic appearance is a very positive sign of things to come. His next objective will be the World Championship in Oslo, Norway later this year.

Also read: Ravi Kumar Dahiya makes it five in Tokyo as India eyes record medal tally