After losing in the final of the men’s 57kg freestyle category against Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) Zavur Uguev on Thursday, Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya took silver. This is India’s sixth medal and second silver of the Tokyo Olympics.
After KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, and Sakshi Malik, Ravi Kumar is the fifth Indian wrestler to reach the Olympic podium.
After a tight start in which both wrestlers did an excellent job of defending, Uguev earned the first point of the match. In the opening few minutes of the match, Uguev shoved the Indian wrestler out of the ring twice to establish a 2-0 lead.
Ravi made a strong comeback by scoring two points, but the ROC wrestler quickly regained the lead by 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 favour of Uguev.
In the second period, Uguev pushed the Indian out once again to take a 5-2 lead. Ravi attempted a comeback, but the ROC wrestler held his ground well. Uguev led 7-2, but Ravi scored two points to make the score 4-7.
Ravi gave it his best, but Uguev came out on top 7-4.
Ravi had advanced to the finals after defeating Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev, a previous World Championships silver medalist, in the semi-finals. He had fought back from a 2-9 deficit to win by fall.
By technical superiority, the 23-year-old Indian had defeated Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov in the quarterfinals (14-4) and Colombia’s Oscar Tigreros in the round of 16 (13-2).
