2021 Tokyo Olympics | Meet your Olympians - Indian Men's Wrestling Team

Wrestling has fetched India five medals at the Olympics so far, the second-most for any discipline (after hockey) and the most for individual events. Legendary athlete KD Jadhav claimed India’s first medal in Wrestling, at the 1952 Helsinki Games. However, it has been a long wait since then. Sushil Kumar finally ended the drought at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by bagging a bronze medal in the men’s 66kg freestyle event.

Now, let us have a look at the Indian Wrestling Team (Men’s) -

It has been a lot of sacrifice for Ravi Dahiya and his family, since the day he took up wrestling at the age of 10, at the Chhatrasal Stadium, in Delhi. Working as a farmer on rented paddy fields, his father, Rakesh, immersed himself into the daily errand of travelling each day from Nahri (Haryana) to the stadium, to deliver milk and fruits, which were part of Ravi’s wrestling diet. The combined tough grind did not go unrewarded.

In spite of several hiccups in the build-up to the Olympics owing to the pandemic situation, Ravi still managed to claim top honours at the 2020 and 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships respectively. Even though he is not an outright medal prospect, the Haryana-based athlete is quite capable of pulling off the unexpected. The 23-year old will shift his training base to Russia until the Tokyo Olympics arrive.

Bajrang Punia (Men’s 65kg, Freestyle)

From looking up to wrestlers as superheroes to skipping classes and attending wrestling sessions in mud wrestling schools, Bajrang Punia had his intentions pretty clear from an early age. Energized by his father, also a former wrestler, the entire family moved to Sonepat, in Delhi, so that the aspiring athlete can attend training sessions at the regional SAI (Sports Authority of India) centre. As per the norms, success soon followed.

However, his first major break surfaced at the 2013 World Championships, when he won a bronze medal. One year later, Punia hogged global fame by bagging back to back silver medals at the 2014 Commonwealth and Asian Games respectively. In the following editions of the above-mentioned multi-sports events, Bajrang bettered the colour of the hue. In the midst of the medal rush, he was not in contention for the 2016 Rio Olympics, as the 61kg category was not part of the Games.

Deepak Punia (Men’s 86kg, Freestyle)

But, pushing up the limit was only possible after he shifted to the Chhatrasal Stadium, in Delhi, where he was nurtured by India’s greatest ever wrestler - Sushil Kumar. The two-time Olympic medallist has been his mentor ever since and Deepak has attributed most of his success to the living legend. Even though the gold medal win at the 2016 World Cadet Championships marked his arrival, the Asian Junior Championships triumph and a second-place finish at the World Junior Championships in 2018 fuelled his career for the long run.

However, 2019 turned out to be a career-defining year for the wrestler, as he went on to grab medals at the Junior World Championships (silver), Asian Wrestling Championships (bronze) and World Championships (silver). The stellar show was enough to secure a berth for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Having missed out on the Matteo Pellicone Trophy earlier this year, Deepak will be travelling to Russia to ramp up his preparations ahead of the quadrennial event.