A spirited show by the Indians

Bajrang Punia has been performing quite consistently in the international circuit, first winning the Asian Games gold medal in 2018 and then a bronze medal at the 2019 World Wrestling Championship. Under the guidance of Shako Bentinidis (threetime Olympian), Bajrang has been training in Russia, and his considerable improvement under Shako has been quite evident. Shako was even quite vocal during Bajrang’s bouts at the Olympic Games, guiding and instructing him during difficult situations. It’s a credit to Shako that despite Bajrang being outplayed in the semi-final by Haji Aliyev of Russia, he was able to get Bajrang to quickly refocus and prepare for the third-place bout against Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan.

“Ravi Dahiya, the Indian freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 57 kg category, trained under Kamal Malikov in Russia for the final phase before the Olympics. Malikov, who has won medals in prominent events such as the World Cup, has worked as a coach in Russia, Poland and Tunisia. An expert and young coach, Malikov was able to guide Ravi at his first Olympic Games. It was a great credit to Ravi that despite trailing 9–2 at one stage in the semi-final, he was able to turn around the bout. Malikov’s never-saydie attitude evidently reflected in Ravi’s performance.”

Asit Kumar Saha, Vice-President Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Coach Under FLA (Iran)