Ravi Kumar Dahiya


Ravi Kumar Dahiya, also known as Ravi Kumar, is an Indian freestyle wrestler who won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in the 57 kg category and secured a place in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Dahiya was born in 1997 and hails from the village of Nahri in Sonipat district, Haryana. Since age 10, Dahiya was trained by Satpal Singh at the Chhatrasal Stadium in North Delhi. His father Rakesh Dahiya, a farmer who worked on rented paddy fields, would travel every day from Nahri to the stadium to deliver milk and fruits, which were part of his wrestling diet, for more than a decade.

Career

Dahiya won the silver medal in the 55 kg freestyle category at the 2015 Junior World Wrestling Championships in Salvador de Bahia. 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 in Bucharest, India's only medal at the competition, in the 57 kg category. Dahiya remained unbeaten at the 2019 Pro Wrestling League, representing the title winning team, Haryana Hammers. He was ranked fifth at the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships in Xi'an, after losing the bronze medal match.
In his World Championships debut in 2019, Dahiya defeated the European champion Arsen Harutyunyan in the round of 16, and the 2017 world champion Yuki Takahashi in the quarterfinal, to earn one of the six available quota places for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He settled for bronze after losing to defending champion and eventual gold medalist Zaur Uguev in the semifinal round. On the back of his medal win, Dahiya was included in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports' Target Olympic Podium Scheme in October 2019.
Dahiya bagged gold at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi.

International Competition

World Championship

U23 World Championship

World Junior Championship

Asian Wrestling Championship

Record against opponents