Ravi Kumar Dahiya[1][2] (born 12 December 1997), also known as Ravi Kumar[3][4] or Ravi Dahiya,[5][6] is an Indian freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 57 kg category. Dahiya is also a bronze medallist from 2019 World Wrestling Championships and a three-time Asian champion. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he won the gold medal in the men's 57kg freestyle wrestling category.[5]

Ravi Kumar Dahiya
Ravi Kumar Dahiya in August 2022
Personal information
Born (1997-12-12) 12 December 1997 (age 26)
Nahri, Haryana, India
Height170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Sport
Country India
SportWrestling
Weight class
  • 57 kg
  • 65 kg
EventFreestyle
Medal record

Early life

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Dahiya was born on 12 December 1997 in Nahri village, Sonipat district, Haryana.[7] Since age 10, Dahiya was trained by Satpal Singh at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi. His father Rakesh Dahiya, a small farmer, would travel around 39 km every day from their village to Chhatrasal Stadium to deliver fresh milk and fruits, which were part of his wrestling diet, for more than a decade.[2][6]

Career

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Dahiya started wrestling in his early teens and won the silver medal in the 2015 Junior World Wrestling Championships at Salvador de Bahia in the 55 kg freestyle category.[8] He picked up an injury in 2017 which kept him out of action for more than a year. In his comeback year, he won the silver medal at the 2018 World U23 Wrestling Championship in Bucharest, India's only medal at the competition, in the 57 kg category.[3] Dahiya remained unbeaten at the 2019 Pro Wrestling League, representing the title winning team, Haryana Hammers.[9][10]

He was tied fifth at the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships in Xi'an, after losing the bronze medal match.[11]

In his World Championships debut in 2019, Dahiya defeated the European champion Arsen Harutyunyan in the round of 16,[12] and the 2017 world champion Yuki Takahashi in the quarterfinal, to earn one of the six available quota places for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He lost to defending champion and eventual gold medalist Zaur Uguev in the semifinal round. However, he managed to take the bronze after defeating Reza Atri of Iran.[13] On the back of his medal win, Dahiya was included in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports' Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in October 2019.[14]

Dahiya won gold at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi and the 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships in Almaty.[1][15]

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Dahiya won his first two bouts on technical superiority.[16] In the semifinal, he pinned the Kazakh wrestler Nurislam Sanayev down in the final minute to win by fall, after trailing in the bout on points.[17] There were reports that Dahiya endured a bite from his opponent, Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-final match.[18] In the final, Dahiya had to settle for a silver as he was defeated 4–7 on points by ROC wrestler Zaur Uguev.[19] Dahiya became the second Indian wrestler to win an Olympic silver after Sushil Kumar.[20]

At the 2022 Yasar Dogu Tournament, he won the gold medal after defeating Uzbek Gulomjon Abdullaev 11–10 in the final.[21][22] At the 2022 World Wrestling Championships, he lost to Uzbekistan's Gulomjon Abdullaev in the pre-quarterfinals.[23]

Awards and recognition

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National award

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Rewards

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For winning the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics

International competition

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Olympics

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Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2021 2020 Summer Olympics Tokyo 57 kg     Zaur Uguev (RUS)

World Championship

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Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2019 2019 World Wrestling Championships Nur-Sultan 57 kg     Reza Atri (IRI)
2022 2022 World Wrestling Championships Belgrade 57 kg 6th   Gulomjon Abdullaev (UZB)

U23 World Championship

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Year Competition Venue Event Rank opponent
2018 2018 World U23 Wrestling Championships Bucharest 57 kg     Toshihiro Hasegawa (JPN)

World Junior Championship

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Year Competition Venue Event Rank opponent
2015 2015 World Junior Wrestling Championships Salvador, Bahia 56 kg     Mahir Amiraslanov (AZE)

Commonwealth Games

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Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2022 2022 Commonwealth Games Birmingham 57 kg     Ebikewenimo Welson (NGR)

Asian Wrestling Championship

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Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2022 2022 Asian Wrestling Championships Ulanbaatar 57kg     Rakhat Kalzhan (KAZ)
2021 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships Almaty 57kg     Alireza Sarlak (IRI)
2020 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships New Delhi 57kg     Hikmatullo Vohidov (TJK)
2019 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships Xi'an 57kg 5th   Kang Kum-song (PRK)

Record against opponents

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References

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  1. ^ a b Roy, Avishek; Singh, Navneet (22 February 2020). "Asian Wrestling Championships: Ravi Kumar Dahiya wins gold, Bajrang Punia loses in final". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Ravi Kumar Dahiya: Latest on the list of India's wrestling sensations". Olympic Channel. 24 September 2019. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Ravi Kumar's passion bears fruit in impressive Worlds debut". ESPN.in. 21 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  4. ^ "RAVI Kumar". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b "CWG 2022: Ravi Dahiya Wins Gold Medal In 57 Kg Wrestling; Decimates Opponent 10-0 In Final". The Times of India. 7 August 2022. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  6. ^ a b "World Wrestling Championships 2019: 'My real journey has just begun', says bronze medallist Ravi Dahiya after booking ticket to Tokyo". Firstpost. 20 September 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Junior World Championships". unitedworldwrestling.org. United World Wrestling. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  9. ^ Siwach, Vinay (27 July 2019). "Wrestling: Deepak and Ravi continue Chhatarsaal stadium's tradition of winning medals for India". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  10. ^ Sarangi, Y. B. (26 July 2019). "Easy day for Bajrang, Ravi Dahiya excels in Worlds trials". Sportstar. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Asian Championships". unitedworldwrestling.org. United World Wrestling. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  12. ^ Sarangi, Y. B. (21 September 2019). "Sushil's presence helped: Ravi Dahiya". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya follows Bajrang Punia's footsteps, wins bronze in World Championship debut". Hindustan Times. 20 September 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  14. ^ "Wrestler Ravi Dahiya included in TOPS, Sakshi Malik dropped". The Times of India. 4 October 2019. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Asian Wrestling C'ships: Ravi Dahiya bags gold". Hindustan Times. 17 April 2021. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia storm into Olympic semis, get closer to medal rounds". Hindustan Times. 4 August 2021. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Ravi Kumar Dahiya ensures at least a silver medal for India; enters men's freestyle 57kg wrestling final". Hindustan Times. 4 August 2021. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  18. ^ "Ravi Dahiya endures bite by Nurislam Sanayev but is fine, says support staff". 4 August 2021. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Ravi Kumar Dahiya wins silver medal for India in men's 57kg freestyle wrestling". Hindustan Times. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  20. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya bags 2nd silver medal for India after Mirabai Chanu". India Today. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  21. ^ "Wrestling: Ravi Dahiya wins gold at Yasar Dogu; India finishes with 4 medals". Archived from the original on 24 February 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  22. ^ "Yasar Dogu wrestling: India's Ravi Kumar Dahiya wins gold". Archived from the original on 24 April 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  23. ^ "Wrestling World Championships: Olympic Medallist Ravi Dahiya Out Of Medal Contention". NDTV. 16 September 2022. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  24. ^ "National Sports Awards 2021: Neeraj Chopra, Lovlina Borgohain, Mithali Raj Among 9 Others to Get Khel Ratna". News18. 2 November 2021. Archived from the original on 3 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  25. ^ Sharma, Nitin (12 July 2021). "Rs 6 crore or Rs 25 lakh for Olympics gold? Home state key to cash prize and 'A' Grade Job in Haryana Government". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  26. ^ Basu, Hindol (23 July 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: Indians to get highest cash award for winning medals". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  27. ^ "Raining rewards for Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra! Haryana, Punjab, BCCI announce cash awards for star javelin thrower". Financial Express. 7 August 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  28. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Coaches of gold winners to get ₹12.5 lakh from IOA, Chanu coach to get ₹10 lakh". Hindustan Times. 24 July 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
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