Tokyo: India assured its first medal in wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics when Ravi Kumar Dahiya made it to the final of men’s 57kg with a comeback victory over Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
Sanayev almost won the match as he registered eight points in a row with a gator move leading 9-2 in no time. However, Ravi Kumar staged a brilliant comeback to reduce the deficit to 5-9.
The Indian turned the match on his head when he pinned down his opponent just over 30 seconds remaining. In the final, Rav Kumar will face ROC’s Zaur Uguev on Thursday and would be hoping to clinch the gold for India.
On the other hand, another Indian Deepak Punia (86kg) lost his semifinal bout against formidable American David Morris Taylor and will fight for the bronze medal.
Earlier, both Ravi Kumar and Deepak advanced to the semifinals. Fourth-seeded Ravi Kumar defeated Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov by 14-4 while Deepak edged China’s Zushen Lin by 6-3 at the Makuhari Messe Hall A.
The latter Indian wrestler took a 1-0 lead in the first half of the 86kg wrestling event. And in the second half, Punia further advanced with a score of five points to Zushen’s three. Earlier in the day, Deepak Punia defeated Nigeria’s Agiomor Ekerekeme, scored 12-1.
On the other hand, Dahiya easily defeated Georgi Valentinov in the quarterfinals. The 23-year-old Indian wrestler scored six points in the first round and eight more in the second against the Bulgarian. Though the Bulgarian athlete made an attempt in the second half, his efforts were in vain as Dahiya dominated the proceedings with some solid attacks.
Meanwhile, Anshu Malik, 19, was defeated 2-8 in the women’s 57kg preliminary round by European champion Irina Kurachikina of Belarus.
