Ravi Dahiya storms into wrestling final

Chiba (Japan), Aug 04 (PTI): Ravi Dahiya on Wednesday became only the second Indian wrestler to qualify for the title clash at the Olympic Games, when he sensationally turned around the 57kg semifinal bout by pinning Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev but Deepak Punia was left to fight for bronze medal after he lost his semifinal, here on Wednesday.
Before Dahiya, a son of a farmer from Haryana, Sushil Kumar was the only Indian to make the gold medal bout at the 2012 Olympics in London where he had settled for a silver.
The fourth seeded Dahiya trailed 2-9 after Sanayev effected a few ‘fitley’ (leg lace) but as the clocked ticked away, Dahiya regrouped and got hold of his rival with a double leg attack that resulted in a ‘victory by fall’.
“I had no business conceding that much lead against Sanayev. I am not happy with it,” Dahiya told PTI when asked about his inspiring achievement.
It just shows the kind of standards the Indian from Nahri village in Haryana has set for himself.
“I have beaten Sanayev twice before, so I knew I can pull it off despite trailing by a huge margin. I was assured inside, but I should not have conceded lead and made it a close fight. That was pretty bad of me,” he said.
“I still have some unfinished business to do. I came with a target here and that is not complete yet (winning gold).”
In the final on Thursday, Dahiya will face reigning world champion Russian Zavur Uguev to whom he had lost in the 2019 World Championship semifinals.
Despite a huge deficit, the 23-year-old Dahiya did not panic, showing tremendous mental strength and dramatically turned the bout in his favour.