Ravi Dahiya taking on Zavur Uguev
- Second Indian wrestler to win Olympic silver after Sushil Kumar
Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya had to be content with a silver medal as he lost the final to Russia’s Zavur Uguev on Thursday. Ravi Dahiya, 23 years, was trailing at 2-4 after the first period in gold medal bout. Uguev then increased his lead to 7-2. However, Dahiya came back energetically and won two points to reduce the gap to three points. The Russian opponent held his defence strongly not allowing the surging Dahiya to penetrate. Dahiya fought to the best of his ability against the two-time world champion. A disappointed Dahiya had to settle for a silver medal. It is the sixth medal India had won in wrestling at Olympics. He became only the second wrestler to win Olympic silver after Sushil Kumar who made it at London Olympics in 2012. On Wednesday, Ravi Dahiya had beaten Tigreros Urbano of Columbia by 13-2 to enter quarter final.
Ravi had beaten Georgi Valentino Vagelov of Bulgaria (14-4) in the last of the eight bouts and Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhastan in quarter final. Especially in the semi-finals Ravi who was down at 2-7 came back into the game fiercely and went close Sanayev at 7-9. With just 40 seconds remaining in the bout, Ravi pulled off a stunning move and pinned his rival to the ground to storm into the final. He tried to do the same in the final phase of the final bout and he did score two quick points but the Russian champion had proved to be too tough.
