With the entry of Ravi Dahiya, India has confirmed its fourthmedal and the wrestler is just a few steps away from the medal. He defeated Kazakhstan’sNurislam Sanaye is under the 57 kg weight category. The finals are to be held onThursday, where he will either get gold or silver.
The match was heading as 1-8 in the semi-finals, but atthe end when only 1 minute was left, he turned the tables and won the match bythe Fall Rule. The next one to win a medal is Deepak Punia and hopes are thathe will bring laurels to the country.
Talking of Ravi, he was talking to his younger brotherand his cousin over video call before the quarter-finals and he stated, “I willplay such a game that the whole world will keep watching...”
Also read: Tokyo Olympics 2020: India eying another MEDAL; Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia reached Semi-Finals
His journey to reach up to here has been really difficult,he along with his father have fought a lot to reach up till here and thevillagers thought that if with Ravi’s success, the authorities will learn aboutthe struggles faced by the villagers and will help them.
He is the third Olympian from his village i.e. Naharivillage, Haryana, the rest two were Mahavir Singh and Amit Dahiya but they couldn’twin. His father fought many fights against real-life difficulties as well aspoverty.
This man used to carry milk and butter for Ravi fromNahari every day. Ravi used to be in Chhatrasal Stadium, Delhi. His father usedto wake up at 3.30 AM and used to walk for 5 km to travel till the railwaystation, used to take a train to cover 2 km to reach the Stadium. His father,Rakesh made a lot of sacrifices for 12 years continuously and wanted his son torespect his sacrifices for him.
Ravi once ate butter that fell on the ground, his fathersaid, “Once his mother made butter for him and I took it to the bowl. Ravidropped all the butter on the ground to remove the water. I told him that weare able to get good food for him in these difficult times and he should not becareless about it. I told him not to let it go to waste, so he picked the butterfrom the field and eat butter.”
The villagers think that after Ravi receives an Olympicmedal, the poor condition of the village will improve. At present, the villagereceives contaminated water and only 2-4 hours of electricity. After therepresentation of Mahavir Singh twice in the Olympics, the Chief Minister,Chaudhary Devi Lal opened a veterinary hospital in the village as per therequest of the player.
Ravi has been playing wrestling since the age of 10 underSatpal Singh has also trained the double medallist Sushil Kumar. Ravi haswon a bronze medal in the 2019 World Championship, he has also received 2 goldmedals in the Asian Championships and is a silver medallist at the 2015 WorldJunior Wrestling Championships.