Ravi Dahiya’s medal brings joy to Chhatrasal Stadium

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 4

There were many smiling faces in the main wrestling hall of the Chhatrasal Stadium on Wednesday. Ravi Dahiya, a Chhatrasal trainee, was up against Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev in the semifinals of the 57 kg category. A win would erase all the bad press that the stadium, considered as the cradle of Indian wrestling, got because of the Sagar Dhankar murder case in which two-time Olympics medallist Sushil Kumar is the main accused.

Ravi’s win, which ensured that he would return with at least a silver medal, came as a balm for the 100-odd trainees, some of whom watched the live action on television. ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Chhatrasal Stadium ki jai’ rang loudly as the trainees and coaches broke into their victory dance. Ravi became only the third Chhatrasal trainee to medal at the Olympics, after Sushil and Yogeshwar Dutt.

Relief

Along with the euphoria, there was a sense of relief across the faces and a realisation that the stadium will return to the sports pages after hitting notoriety with the crime reporters.

“A lot of wrestlers left or stayed out because of the incident,” said 19-year-old Vishant Chillar, who hails from Barahi village in Bahadurgarh district. “This win was needed to put an end to all the negativity that has surrounded us ever since the case,” he added.

Incidentally, the television on which the group watched Ravi create history was installed at the behest of Sushil so that the trainees could get to watch bouts of Indian wrestlers.

“Because of the news channels, people started to believe that we were all gangsters,” said coach Jaiveer Dahiya. “The old perception returned that wrestlers were bad people. They showed pehelwanji (Sushil) as some sort of a villain,” he added.

“Now the same set of people will be proud of this akhada as a wrestler has won a big Olympics medal. It is a big relief. I cannot tell you how happy every one of us is today,” he added.

Nahri kinship

Beyond all the commotion and sitting quietly in the corner was Arun Kumar, who mentors Ravi. Arun and Ravi are from the same village, Nahri, in Haryana’s Sonepat district. Arun had taken Ravi under his wings when he joined the akhada. Arun, who supported Ravi when many gave up on the young wrestler, had a quiet word with the 23-year-old over the phone.

“All those years of hard work have borne fruit,” Arun said. “Everyone was raising questions as Ravi was unable to perform. He had an iron deficiency which was keeping him back,” he added.

“We got him medical assistance and then he beat Amit Kumar (2013 World Championships silver medallist) in the trials in 2017. He has not looked back since then,” he added.