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Anilava Chatterjee, Tokyo: Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar, who won silver in men’s wrestling 57Kg at Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, dedicated his medal to the Covid-19 warriors and frontline workers of the country. The wrestler from Nahri in Sonipat lost the final to Zavur Uguev of Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

“I would like to dedicate my medal to corona warriors and frontline workers in the country. They are doing a great job for the nation,” said the 23 year old wrestler to the media in Tokyo.  

There were clear signs of disappointment in the face of Ravi as he was confident of winning gold against Uguev.  

“I have been working hard for last two years for gold. I qualified for the Olympics way back in 2019. I had set my target to win gold for the country. May be I need to work even stronger to win gold next time.”

Talking about his fight with Uguev, Ravi said, “We knew he is a good wrestler. He has been world champion for two three times. I tried to put up a good fight but maybe I still need to work on a few areas to come back stronger next time. I will try to win gold next time.”

On being asked whether he felt any pressure to meet Uguev who is the reigning world champion, Ravi said, “No, I was not under any pressure. I worked really hard with an aim to win gold. There was no pressure as I was well prepared.”

The wrestler from Haryana staged a great comeback win against Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev in the semi finals after trailing 2-9.  Talking about yesterday’s bout Ravi said, “See in wrestling there are lots of ups and downs. I fought with the Kazakhstan boxer before and defeated him twice. I was confident against him but he took a big lead. I always had that self belief that I will make a comeback. During a  recent tour to Poland I was in a similar situation against a wrestler from Kazakhstan against whom  I was trailing 0-8 but won it in the end”

A picture of the Kazakh wrestler biting him went viral on the social media. But the silver medal winning wrestler at Tokyo Olympics did not read too much into it.

“See everyone tries hard to win. It was not a serious injury. I applied ice and I was okay for the final,” said Ravi.

Ravi is the second wrestler in the country to win silver at Olympics after Sushil Kumar. He also trained at the Chhatrasal stadium where wrestlers like Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Deepak Punia trained.

“There was always a craze about wrestling in our village. One wrestler from our village Amit Dahiya went to the London Olympics in 2012. There was another guy from our village who went to the Olympics. I started wrestling in my village. Our guruji Hansraj sent me to Delhi. I learnt a lot watching Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt who brought glory for the country.”

The soft spoken wrestler has stayed away from social media in last two years to concentrate on the Tokyo Olympics. He had not talked with his family members in last two months. The sacrifices did pay off as he became the second wrestler from the country to win silver.

On being asked how this silver medal will boost the sport back home, Ravi said, “Indian wrestlers have been doing well in recent times. Deepak Punia could have won his bout. It was a matter of a few seconds. So, wrestling as a sport has been on the rise in last few years.”