The distance from Nahri village in Sonipat to the Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi is roughly 30km.
That distance was covered every day by a father, who wanted his son, a budding wrestler, to have pure milk from home. And on Wednesday, all his efforts paid off as the son stood on the cusp of history.
Ravi Dahiya, son of Haryana farmer Rakesh, became only the second Indian wrestler to qualify for the title clash at the Olympic Games, after Sushil Kumar, when he sensationally turned around the 57kg semi-final bout against Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev in Tokyo. A silver ensured, Ravi is tantalisingly close to a gold medal — the very first for India in Olympics wrestling.
The initial minutes of the semi-final saw both wrestlers being a little tentative, registering points and getting a measure of the opponent. The score was 2-1 in Ravi’s favour when Sanayev took an aggressive stance and pocketed eight points in a row by pulling off the dreaded “leg lace” move.
He grabbed Ravi by the ankles and rolled the Indian wrestler four times, which gave him the eight points to take his lead to 9-2.
But Ravi, who rarely shows emotions and was not really being touted as a medal prospect ahead of the Olympics, was in no mood to give up. He first reduced the deficit to 5-9, forcing the Kazakh out of the mat. This left Sanayev a little distracted and he also injured his leg.
And then came the sensational moment when Ravi got hold of his rival with a double leg attack and succeeded in pinning him on the mat and earning a “victory by fall”.
A fall, also known as a pin, occurs when a wrestler is able to hold down his opponent with both shoulders on the mat simultaneously. The hold must be long enough for the referee to judge it as total control, usually up to two seconds. A fall ends a match, regardless of when it occurs and what the point score is.
“I had no business conceding that much lead against Sanayev. I am not happy with it,” Dahiya said after the match.
He added: “I still have some unfinished business to do. I came with a target here and that is not complete yet (winning gold).”
In the final on Thursday, Ravi will face reigning world champion Zavur Uguev of Russia Olympic Committee
to whom he had lost in the 2019 World Championship semi-final.
Ravi had won both his previous rounds on technical superiority, outclassing Colombia’s Tigreros Urbano (13-2) in his opener and then Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov (14-4).
Wrestling is a way of life in Ravi’s village. It is home to two Arjuna Award winners Satveer Singh and Mahavir Singh and two Olympians (Mahavir, Moscow 1980, and Amit Kumar Dahiya, London 2012).
The 23-year-old Ravi, fondly called “Moni Pehalwaan”, has definitely outshone them all.
Quest for medal
Deepak Punia (86kg) lost in the semi-finals to formidable American David Morris Taylor, after defeating Nigeria’s Ekerekeme Agiomor and China’s Zushen Lin (in the quarter final). He will now fight for bronze on Thursday against the winner of the repechage round between Myles Amine and Ali Shabanau.
Anshu Malik lost her opening 57kg bout to Irina Kurachikina but since the Belarus wrestler has reached the final, the 19-year old Indian will compete in the repechage and still has a chance to fight for bronze.
With inputs from agencies
