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 originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

who won a silver medal at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

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

2019 World Wrestling Championships The 2019 World Wrestling Championships were held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan from 14 September to 22 September 2019. The tournament served as qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics, the top six wrestlers from each category earned their NOCs a qu ...

and a three-time Asian champion. In the

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

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

Early life

Ravi was born on 12 December 1997 in a

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

family and hails from the village

Nahri Nahri is a village in Sonipat district of Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in ter ...

Sonipat district Sonipat district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in North 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 Pradesh) ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. 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 Ol ...

at the

Chhatrasal Stadium The Chhatrasal Stadium is a sports stadium in North Delhi. The stadium is famous for its wrestlers, such as Yogeshwar Dutt, Ravi Kumar Dahiya , Sushil Kumar, Bajrang Punia and Amit Kumar Dahiya who have won medals at Olympics, Commonwealth Games, ...

North Delhi North Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. Alipur is the administrative headquarters of this district. North Delhi is bounded by the Yamuna River and the district of Central Delhi on the east ...

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

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

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 (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

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 ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroad ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, 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 re ...

, representing the title winning team, Haryana Hammers. He was ranked 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 ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

, 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 Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship aboard a Honda CBR1000RR. For 2009 he made his debut in the MotoGP class, with the Scot Racing Honda team but was subsequentl ...

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

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He lost to defending champion and eventual gold medalist

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

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

Reza Atri Reza Atri Nagharchi ( fa, رضا اطری نقارچی, born 8 August 1994 in Babol) 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 med ...

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. Anurag Thakur is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports followed ...

' Target Olympic Podium Scheme (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 The 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships took place from 13 April to 18 April in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was held at the same venue as the 2021 Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament. This event was the 34th edition of the Asian Wrestling C ...

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 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 Solanki (born 26 May 1983) is a former Indian wrestler. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. His 2008 Olympic medal was second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Ja ...

. 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 ...

, 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 (), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award ( Major Dhyan Chand Sport Jewel Award), is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Governm ...

, highest sporting honour of India.

Rewards

''For winning the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics'' * from the Government of India. * from the

Government of Haryana The Government of Haryana, also known as the State Government of Haryana, or locally as the State 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 national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

* from the Indian Olympic Association.

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 of 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 medallists in wrestling Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games