Ravi Kumar Dahiya (born 12 December 1997), also known as Ravi Kumar or Ravi Dahiya, is an Indian

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

who won a silver medal at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in the 57 kg category. Dahiya is also a bronze medallist from

2019 World Wrestling Championships The 2019 World Wrestling Championships were held in Astana, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan from 14 September to 22 September 2019. The tournament served as qualification for the Wrestling at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Summer Olympics, the top six wres ...

and a three-time Asian champion. At the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

in Birmingham, he won the gold medal in the men's 57kg freestyle wrestling category.

Early life

Dahiya was born on 12 December 1997 in Nahri village,

Sonipat district Sonipat district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Sonipat town is the district headquarters. It is a part of National Capital Region. It is bordered by Delhi, Panipat, Rohtak, Jind, Jhajjar and Baghpat (Uttar Pr ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. Since age 10, Dahiya was trained by

Satpal Singh Satpal Singh (born 1 February 1955), also known as Guru Satpal, is a wrestling coach and former wrestler of India. He was a gold medalist in 1982 Asian Games and a bronze medalist in 1974 Asian Games. Today he is better known as the coach of O ...

at the Chhatrasal Stadium in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. His father Rakesh Dahiya, a small farmer, would travel around 39 km every day from their village to Chhatrasal Stadium to deliver fresh milk and fruits, which were part of his wrestling diet, for more than a decade.

Career

Dahiya started wrestling in his early teens and won the silver medal in the 2015 Junior World Wrestling Championships at

Salvador de Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

in the 55 kg freestyle category. He picked up an injury in 2017 which kept him out of action for more than a year. In his comeback year, he won the silver medal at the

2018 World U23 Wrestling Championship The 2018 U23 World Wrestling Championships were the second edition of U23 World Wrestling Championships of combined events, held from November 12 to 18 in Bucharest, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, India's only medal at the competition, in the 57 kg category. Dahiya remained unbeaten at the 2019

Pro Wrestling League The Pro Wrestling League (PWL) is an Indian sport wrestling promotion that was first established in 2015. It was initiated by ProSportify and Wrestling Federation of India. Structure The Pro Wrestling League includes six franchises, which ...

, representing the title winning team, Haryana Hammers. He was tied fifth at the

2019 Asian Wrestling Championships The 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships was held in Xi'an, China. The event took place from April 23 to April 28, 2019. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Women's freestyle Participating nations ...

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, after losing the bronze medal match. In his

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

debut in 2019, Dahiya defeated the European champion Arsen Harutyunyan in the round of 16, and the 2017 world champion

Yuki Takahashi is a Japanese people, Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle road racing, road racer. He currently races in the All Japan Road Race Championship, All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship aboard a Honda CBR1000RR. For 2009 h ...

in the quarterfinal, to earn one of the six available quota places for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. He lost to defending champion and eventual gold medalist

Zaur Uguev Zaur Uguev ( rus, Заур Ризванович Угуев, , zɐˈur ʊˈɡu(ɪ̯)ɪf; born 27 March 1995) is a Russian freestyle wrestler who competes at 57 kilograms and 61 kilograms. He claimed the 2020 Summer Olympic Games gold medal afte ...

in the semifinal round. However, he managed to take the bronze after defeating

Reza Atri Reza Atri Nagharchi (, born 8 August 1994 in Tehran) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler. He won the silver medal in the 61kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. He won a gold medal at the 2019 Asian Championshi ...

of Iran. On the back of his medal win, Dahiya was included in the

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of Youth Affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Mansukh Mandaviya is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports foll ...

Target Olympic Podium Scheme Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) is a scheme created by Government of India to promote sports in India. In September 2014, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India started a scheme to train and promote high-performance ath ...

(TOPS) in October 2019. Dahiya won gold at the

2020 Asian Wrestling Championships The 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships was held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium, Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi in India. The event took place from 18 to 23 February. China was barred from entering into the competition due to the COVID-19 pandemi ...

in New Delhi and the 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships in Almaty. At the

, Dahiya won his first two bouts on technical superiority. In the semifinal, he pinned the Kazakh wrestler Nurislam Sanayev down in the final minute to win by fall, after trailing in the bout on points. There were reports that Dahiya endured a bite from his opponent, Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-final match. In the final, Dahiya had to settle for a silver as he was defeated 4–7 on points by ROC wrestler

. Dahiya became the second Indian wrestler to win an Olympic silver after

Sushil Kumar Sushil Kumar (born 26 May 1983) is a former Indian wrestler and two-time Olympic medallist. His 2008 Olympic bronze medal was only the second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav's bronze medal at the 1952 Summ ...

. At the

2022 Yasar Dogu Tournament The 50th Yasar Dogu Tournament 2022, was a wrestling event held in Istanbul, Turkey between 24 and 27 February 2022. It was held as the first of the ranking series together with the 2022 Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan Tournament. The international t ...

, he won the gold medal after defeating Uzbek Gulomjon Abdullaev 11–10 in the final. At the

2022 World Wrestling Championships The 2022 World Wrestling Championships was the 17th edition of the World Wrestling Championships of combined events and was held between 10 and 18 September 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. The UWW Bureau approved the candidature of Belgrade, Serbia as ...

, he lost to Uzbekistan's Gulomjon Abdullaev in the pre-quarterfinals.

Awards and recognition

National award

* 2021 –

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award The Khel Ratna Award (; Sport Jewel Award), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of ...

, the highest sporting honour of India.

Rewards

''For winning the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics'' * from the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. * from the

Government of Haryana Government of Haryana, also known as the State Government of Haryana, or locally as the Haryana Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Haryana and its 22 districts. It consists of an executive, ceremonially led ...

. * from the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

* from the

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bhāratīya Olaṃpika Saṃgha'') is responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international spor ...

International competition

Olympics

World Championship

U23 World Championship

World Junior Championship

Commonwealth Games

Asian Wrestling Championship

Record against opponents

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahiya, Ravi Kumar 1997 births Living people Indian male sport wrestlers Sport wrestlers from Haryana People from Sonipat district World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers for India Olympic silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games gold medallists in wrestling Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games