Tokyo Games: Ravi Dahiya Takes Home Olympic Silver, Goes Down Fighting In Final

Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya took home the silver medal after narrowly losing 4-7 in the men's freestyle 57kg final to ROC's Zavur Uguev on Thursday. Ravi Dahiya was trailing 2-4 after the first period in the gold medal bout. Uguev then increased his lead to 7-2 but the Indian wrestler didn't give in and came roaring back to win two points and reduce the deficit to three points. Dahiya then went for the kill, looking to score more points but his Russian opponent's defence held firm. In the end, it was heartbreak for the wrestler who gave it his all against the two-time world champion, coming agonisingly close to getting India's first Olympic gold in wrestling.

Ravi Dahiya's silver is the sixth medal India has won in wrestling at the Olympics.

With his second-place finish, Ravi Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler to win silver at the Olympics after Sushil Kumar. Sushil had won the silver at the London Games in 2012.

On Wednesday, Ravi Dahiya had breezed past Colombia's Tigreros Urbano in his 1/8 final bout to make it to the quarterfinals. He won the match 13-2. 

In the last-eight bout, Ravi proved to be too good for Georgi Valentino Vangelov as he registered a comfortable win over the Bulgarian, winning the bout 14-4.

Ravi was up against Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-final match and he was pushed on the backfoot in the last three minutes of the bout, trailing 2-9 at one stage. 

Ravi Dahiya made a sterling comeback in the second period to make it 7-9. 

With just 40 seconds remaining in the bout, the 23-year-old Indian wrestler pulled off a stunning move and pinned his opponent to book a place in the final via fall.