When Sushil Kumar won the silver medal at the 2012 London Games, Ravi Dahiya, a wide-eyed 14-year-old, was learning the basics of becoming a grappler at the Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi, following in the footsteps of medal-winning wrestlers like Sushil and Yogeshwar Dutt.

Cut to Tokyo 2020, a 23-year-old Ravi wrestled his way to the 57kg final, raising hopes of winning the first-ever gold medal in the sport for the country.

But that was not to be. On Thursday, the chance of bettering Sushil slipped away as Ravi lost the final bout to the reigning world champion Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Uguev’s 7-4 win left Ravi with the silver, a medal that was already ensured on Wednesday.

There are reports that Sushil watched the bout on television in Tihar jail, where he is now an inmate facing murder charges. According to jail staff, he got “emotional” and was disappointed when Ravi lost.

Uguev hardly gave the Indian any chance, dominating the bout completely. Ravi had lost to Uguev at the 2019 World Championship also.

Trailing 0-2, Ravi did well to level the score, holding his opponent chest down on the mat. But Uguev’s strategy of defending first and then taking the lead again with timely point-scoring moves left Ravi a bit flustered. With the Russian’s lead increasing steadily, at 7-2 Ravi tried to force points, which were initially not recorded. The Indian camp’s challenge was fruitful, with two points coming Ravi’s way.

But that was as far as he went.

Disappointments

Vinesh Phogat’s dream of wiping off the nightmarish memories of the Rio Olympics remained unfulfilled when she lost in the quarter finals and later Deepak Punia let slip a bronze in the last 10 seconds of his bout.

Vinesh, the world No.1 in her category and the top seed in Tokyo, started her campaign on expected lines at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, breezing past the Rio Olympics bronze-medal winner Sofia Mattsson 7-1.

But in the quarters, Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya pinned her down for a “victory by fall”.

Later, Vanesa lost her semi-final bout to Qianyu Pang of China ending Vinesh’s chance of fighting in the repechage round.

In the men’s 86kg bronze-medal match, Punia came agonisingly close to winning, but conceded a “takedown” in the last 10 seconds of the bout to lose 2-4 against San Marino’s Myles Nazem Amine. A takedown point is earned when a grappler puts his opponent on the mat and gains control from a standing position.

Deepak was leading 2-1 in the first period.

Earlier in the morning, Anshu Malik bowed out of the 57kg competition after losing her repechage round 1-5 to Russia’s Valeria Koblova, the Rio Olympics silver medallist.

India’s gold medal hopes now rest on Bajrang Punia, who will begin his campaign on Friday against Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev.

Seema Bisla is now the only Indian woman left in the fray. She will begin her campaign in the 50kg category, where she will face Tunisia’s Sarra Hamdi.

With inputs from agencies