When Ravi Dahiya steps on the mat for Haryana Hammers on Wednesday, it will be a personal milestone of sorts for the youngster. Last year, despite being a silver medallist at the national championship and regarded as the one for the future, he wasn’t picked for the Pro Wrestling League.
A disappointed Ravi had then promised himself to rack up performances so he isn’t ignored next time. A year later, not only he has a contract with the biggest wrestling league in the world, he is expected to win most of his bouts in the fourth season which began on Monday in Panchkula.
The change in fortunes for Ravi have come after some breakout results at the international level, especially in the last four months. He is now a two-time senior national silver medallist and a U23 world championships medallist. He also won the U23 national championship held in Chittorgarh.
“Maybe this (PWL contract) is the reward for my good performance in last few months,” Ravi says. “It’s great to be part of the league especially with Haryana Hammers as they are a successful team and it’s from my state.”
Haryana had marked the 21-year-old as a sure pick over the international wrestlers because of his recent results and expect him to cause a few upsets in the league.
“We thought about others as well but Ravi is in very good form,” Haryana Hammers co-owner Bhupender said. “He wrestles with a lot of heart which is crucial in pressure matches.”
Ravi, indeed, shows a lot of heart on the mat. One such example is the 2015 junior world championship where he won a silver medal in the 55kg category. In most bouts, including the semi-final, Ravi came from behind to win. He remembers his most satisfying win.
“My best bout was the semi-final of the 2015 world championships against a wrestler from Mongolia. He had beaten me twice before so it was good to beat him in the semi-final,” he says.
That tournament was also the point when Ravi was expected to excel at the senior level. But the transition was far from ideal – an off-colour 2016 was followed by an injury in 2017.
“I first got injured in that semis bout in 2015 but didn’t think much about it. I have carried the knee injury and it cropped up again at the senior nationals in 2017 in the final bout.
“I was not able to recover from that for a long time. That has been a major reason for my dull performances in the first half of 2018,” he says.
But in the second half, he has made a name for himself. Apart from his silver at the U-23 Worlds (he lost to Japan’s Toshihiro Hasegawa in the final via fall), his unbeaten run at the Club World Cup stands out. It was a weak field but Ravi had wins over wrestlers from Georgia, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Hungary. Three out of those four wins were by technical superiority (point difference of 10 or more).
“The next season is very important. So to get a medal in any competition is good. I want to perform well. The World Cup gave me international exposure. The 2019 World Championships is the biggest test and I will try to qualify for Olympics if I go to Astana,” he says.
But that may not be the easiest job the wrestler from Chhatarsaal Stadium. First, he has win against wrestlers from his own stadium and one of those wrestlers is Naveen, a junior Asian and World Championship silver medallist. Naveen is also the current national champion having beaten Ravi in the final in Gonda.
“The field in 57kg is too strong. Sandeep, Naveen, Aware, Utkarsh so it will be difficult but I’ll try my best to win,” he says.
Munesh Kumar, the physio who played an important role in Ravi’s recovery, expects him to put his best foot forward in 2019 too.
“He is mentally very strong and is slowly maturing as a wrestler,” says Munesh who is working with Ravi since 2015. “His game was always good but he was not consistent because of his knee injury. But I think now after some good coaching and regular conditioning of his knee injury, he has given a better performances.”
One things which works in his favour is he has sparred with Naveen since moving to Chhatarsaal in 2010, following the footsteps of 2012 Olympian Amit Dahiya who also hails from the same village Nari in Sonipat.
“I have trained with Naveen since the beginning and we are close friends. I have lost a few bouts to him now but I think those were close bouts. I’ll try to change the results now,” he says.
To change the results, he won’t have to wait till the trials in March. On Wednesday, Ravi will be up against Naveen of UP Dangal and he may just achieve another personal milestone.