Wednesday has been the best day so far for Indian wrestlers at the Tokyo Olympics. Ravi Kumar Dahiya in the men's 57 kg weight category and Deepak Poonia in the 86 kg weight category have reached the semi-finals. After winning each bout and winning, it will be decided to get one of their gold or silver medals. Even in the event of defeat, they will be in the race for bronze. Ravi will face Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-finals. Deepak will take on David Morris Taylor of America.
In the women's category, Anshu Malik lost to Bulgaria's Iriana Kurachkina in the pre-quarterfinals. Kurachkina has reached the semi-finals. If she makes it to the finals, Anshu will enter the repechage round where she will have a chance to win a bronze medal. In wrestling, the wrestlers who reach the finals compete for the bronze medal between the opponents they have defeated. This is called the repechage round.
Ravi Dahiya won the pre-quarterfinals and quarterfinals on the basis of his technical superiority. In wrestling, if a wrestler gains a 10 point lead over the opponent, he gets an instant victory on the basis of technical superiority. Ravi defeated Colombia's Oscar Eduardo Tigueros 13-2 in the pre-quarterfinals. At the same time, in the quarter-finals, he defeated Georgi Valentinov Vangelov of Bulgaria 14-4.
Deepak Poonia in the 86 kg weight category, who made wrestling a career inspired by Sushil Kumar, also won the first two rounds. In the pre-quarterfinals, he defeated Ekerekame Egiomore of Nigeria 12-1. After this, Deepak defeated Lin Jushen of China 6-3 in the quarter-finals.
