Haeyana Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya settled for silver after losing to World champion Zaur Uguev

Ravi settles for silver

TOKYO: Ravi Kumar Dahiya settled for the silver medal after losing 7-4 to World champion Zaur Uguev of Russia in the keenly-fought men's 57kg freestyle title clash of the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.

The 23-year-old became only the second Indian wrestler, after Sushil Kumar, to get a Games silver.

In the much anticipated contest, Uguev took an early lead by pushing Ravi out of the circle twice. Ravi, a Worlds bronze medallist and a two-time Asian champion, caught up with the Russian through a fine takedown from the left.

Sooner than later, Uguev restored his lead to go into the second period with a 4-2 advantage.

The Russian surprised Ravi with one of his fine moves and extended his lead to 5-2. He inflated his lead with another takedown.

Ravi gave his best to break the solid defence of Uguev and reduce the margin to 7-4. The Indian wrestled his heart out in the closing seconds but could not stop Uguev from achieving the rare honour of being a World and Olympic champion.

For a change, Ravi became emotional after losing the bout. He had earlier lost to Uguev in the semifinal of the World wrestling championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, in 2019.

On Wednesday, Ravi had beaten Pan American silver medallist Colombian Oscar Tigreros 13-2, Bulgarian Individual World Cup bronze medallist Georgi Vangelov 14-4 and double Worlds medallist Kazakh Nurislam Sanayev 'by fall' to reach the final of the Olympic Games. IANS

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