As Ravi Dahiya navigates a minefield of attracts on the World Championships on Friday, the world and Olympic silver medalist will concurrently take a look on the different facet of the sector. This is the place one in every of their important rivals and doubtlessly the most important impediment between them and gold, present world champion Thomas Gilman of America, is being billed as one of many must-watch matches of those championships. I’ll put together my manner.
The high two seeds (in that order) Gilman and Dahiya have by no means confronted one another of their careers. Barring one upset, that’s more likely to change later this week. Both males are anticipated to guide the narrative within the 57kg class – an open weight class to date devoid of such rivalry – going into the Paris Olympics. They appear set to satisfy in Saturday’s last.
And if it does, anticipate a bodily, fast-paced bout. Although they by no means confronted off, Dahiya and Gilman have an identical hyperlink – each have been stopped of their tracks by eventual Olympic champion Zavur Uguev on the Tokyo Games. Uguaev defeated the bronze medalist Gilman within the first spherical of 16 by only one level. Then he defeated Dahiya within the last.
With the Russian absent from the Belgrade Worlds, the battle for the gold medal appears to be like like a straight shoot-off between Olympic silver and bronze medalists. And whereas Dahiya has shuffled between the 61 and 57kg weight classes over the previous few months, Gilman has seemed unstoppable because the Tokyo Games.
At final yr’s World Championships in Oslo, which Dahiya skipped, Gilman gained the gold medal in fashion and completed on high of the rostrum within the three occasions she competed on this yr – two worldwide tournaments, the Pan-Am Championships. and the Zouhair Saghair Ranking Series; and the Final X event that determines the US staff for the World Championships.
With a repute for being a brawler, most of Gilman’s victories in all of those tournaments have come both by technical superiority or by pinning his opponent. If it involves that, Dahiya’s endurance can be examined towards the American who’s aggressive and likes to bodily impose himself on his opponents.
Dahiya, who has a pure weight of round 60-61kg, has discovered it tough to cut back his weight to 57kg to compete within the event this yr. For this purpose, he competed within the 61 kg weight class on the Yasser Dogu and Dan Kolov tournaments and was lowered to 57 for the Asian Championship, the place he gained the title.
Weight administration apart, earlier than Dahiya even begins worrying about Gilman so as to improve his silver from the 2019 World Championships to gold, he’ll need to grapple with a particularly tough discipline, the place the script adjustments straight away. can. A have a look at his half draw reveals simply how deep and difficult the 57kg weight class is.
He would be the favourite within the opener towards Romania’s Rzwan Marion Kovacs, making his senior world championship debut, however that is the one match that appears straight from Dahiya’s standpoint. If he beats Kovacs, the 24-year-old will face Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev, who has crushed Dahiya prior to now and practically defeated Dahiya and Gilman slayer Uguayev.
If Dahiya loses in his first main Test, he’ll face Albania’s Zelimkhan Abkarov. The Russian-born wrestler, who transferred his nationality to compete for Albania and has a freestyle World Cup gold medal to his title, is the one particular person to have defeated Dahiya within the last of the Don Kolov event in Bulgaria this yr.
Once this hurdle is overcome, Dahiya will face a troublesome take a look at within the semi-finals, with both Japan’s Toshihiro Hasegawa or Germany’s Horst Lehr ready for him. Along with Alireza Sarlak of Iran, Hasegawa and Lehr are among the many few contenders who might spoil a possible last match between Dahiya and Gilman. Sarlak and Gilman, who’re on the identical facet of the draw, may have an exciting Iran vs USA conflict within the final 4 with clear political undertones.
Two contenders in Dahiya’s half have the right credentials to problem for the title – Hasegawa, a bronze medalist in final yr’s Worlds 61kg, beat Dahiya to develop into the under-23 world champion in 2018. Lehar, who gained the 57kg bronze final yr. , this yr added to his rising repute by pinning Gilman within the Ranking Series event in Tunisia – the one loss the American suffered in 2022.
Dahiya spent a month coaching in Russia to develop into solely the second world champion from India and to observe within the footsteps of his Chhatrasal Stadium alumnus and mentor Sushil Kumar. And even he’s hoping to beat Gilman to realize that feat. “It’s going to be a good fight,” Dahiya advised UWW. “I also want to wrestle with him (Gilman) and hope it happens in Belgrade because I really want to be world champion.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
