With the entry of Ravi Dahiya, India has confirmed its fourth medal and the wrestler is just a few steps away from the medal. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanaye is under the 57 kg weight category. The finals are to be held on Thursday, where he will either get gold or silver.
The match was heading as 1-8 in the semi-finals, but at the end when only 1 minute was left, he turned the tables and won the match by the Fall Rule. The next one to win a medal is Deepak Punia and hopes are that he will bring laurels to the country.
Talking of Ravi, he was talking to his younger brother and his cousin over video call before the quarter-finals and he stated, “I will play 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 the villagers thought that if with Ravi’s success, the authorities will learn about the struggles faced by the villagers and will help them.
He is the third Olympian from his village i.e. Nahari village, Haryana, the rest two were Mahavir Singh and Amit Dahiya but they couldn’t win. His father fought many fights against real-life difficulties as well as poverty.
This man used to carry milk and butter for Ravi from Nahari every day. Ravi used to be in Chhatrasal Stadium, Delhi. His father used to wake up at 3.30 AM and used to walk for 5 km to travel till the railway station, 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 to respect his sacrifices for him.
Ravi once ate butter that fell on the ground, his father said, “Once his mother made butter for him and I took it to the bowl. Ravi dropped all the butter on the ground to remove the water. I told him that we are able to get good food for him in these difficult times and he should not be careless about it. I told him not to let it go to waste, so he picked the butter from the field and eat butter.”
Also read: ‘I don’t need to take pressure’: Ravi Kumar Dahiya Ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020
The villagers think that after Ravi receives an Olympic medal, the poor condition of the village will improve. At present, the village receives contaminated water and only 2-4 hours of electricity. After the representation of Mahavir Singh twice in the Olympics, the Chief Minister, Chaudhary Devi Lal opened a veterinary hospital in the village as per the request of the player.
Ravi has been playing wrestling since the age of 10 under Satpal Singh has also trained the double medallist Sushil Kumar. Ravi has won a bronze medal in the 2019 World Championship, he has also received 2 gold medals in the Asian Championships and is a silver medallist at the 2015 World Junior Wrestling Championships.