Tokyo, Aug 5 (FN Agency) Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya settled for silver medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics after suffering a 7-4 loss to Zaur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in 57 Kg freestyle wrestling final, here on Thursday. Dahiya, however, became only the second Indian wrestler to bag a silver medal at the Olympic Games after Sushil Kumar. Sushil was the first wrestler from India to have won a silver medal at London 2012 in men’s freestyle wrestling 66kg category.
The 23-year-old Ravi is now only the fifth Indian wrestler to have won an Olympic medal after KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt and Sakshi Malik. With this, India now have won five medals, two of which are silver, at the Tokyo Olympics so far. At the Makuhari Messe, Ravi began the final by assessing his opponent’s moves before launching his attack but conceded two points to Uguev. The Indian grappler then dipped further to find a hold and turn Zaur Uguev around for his first takedown but ROC wrestler was quick to turn around and return the favour as the two headed into the break with the reigning world champion leading 4-2. Though Uguev seemed visibly tired in the second period but he didn’t allow Ravi Dahiya a clear opening to make a move. With the clock ticking, the Indian wrestler went for the kill and scored two points. But Zaur Uguev was once again quick to counter, adding three more points to seal the match. This was Dahiya’s second straight loss to Zavur Uguev, a two-time world champion, in as many meetings.
The wrestler from Haryana had earlier beaten Colombia’s Tigreros Urbano (13-2) in his opener and then outclassed Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov (14-4) in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals on Wednesday, he erased a massive 2-9 deficit to pin Nurislam Sanayev to enter final and secure at least a silver medal for India. Meanwhile, another Indian wrestler Deepak Punia missed the bronze medal on his Olympic debut by a whisker. Punia, a former junior world champion and a senior world championships silver medallist, lost the match 4-2. He conceded a take-down in last 10 seconds of the 86kg play-off against San Marino’s Myles Nazem Amine to miss the medal. On Wednesday, the Indian wrestler beat Nigeria’s Ekerekeme Agiomor in the round of 16 and China’s Lin Zushen in the quarter-finals. However, a loss against USA’s David Taylor in the semi-finals forced Punia to enter the bronze medal match.