Thomas Gilman versus Ravi Dahiya — a must-watch potential final
Thomas Gilman versus Ravi Dahiya – a must-watch potential final: Ravi Dahiya, the silver medalist at both the World and Olympic Championships, will have one eye on the other side of the field as he navigates the minefield that is the draw for the World Championships on Friday.
There, he will plot his course to face the defending world champion of the United States, Thomas Gilman, in a match that is sure to be one of the most anticipated of the Championships.
The top two seeds have never met in their careers: Gilman and Dahiya. That should change this weekend unless an unexpected event occurs.
The two men are likely to dominate the conversation in the 57kg class leading up to the Paris Olympics, an open weight category that has lacked such a rivalry so far. It appears they will face one other in the championship match on Saturday.
And in that case, you can bet on a high-stakes, action-packed fight. Dahiya and Gilman have never met one other, but they share the same experience: they were defeated by Zavur Uguev, the Olympic gold medalist, at the Tokyo Games.
Before Gilman went on to win bronze, Uguev eliminated him in the round of sixteen with a one-point victory. After that, he faced Dahiya in the championship match and ultimately prevailed.
Without the Russian at the Belgrade Worlds, the battle for first place looks to be between the silver and bronze medalists from the Olympics.
Since the Tokyo Olympics, Gilman has looked unbeatable, while Dahiya has been moving back and forth between the 61 and 57kg weight divisions.
Gilman spectacularly won the gold medal at last year’s World Championships in Oslo, which Dahiya chose to skip.
This year, he has also finished first or second in the three events in which he has participated: the Final X tournament, which determines the American team for the World Championships; the Pan-Am Championships; and the Zouhaier Sghaier ranking series.
Despite his tough guy image, Gilman has won most of these championships through technical dominance or by pinning his opponent.
The American is very aggressive and likes to impose himself physically on his opponents, so Dahiya’s stamina will be put to the test if it comes to that.
Dahiya, whose natural weight is 60 to 61 kilos, has struggled this year to drop to the 57 kilos he needs to compete in tournaments. As a result, he entered the 61kg weight division at the Yasar Dogu and Dan Kolov competitions before dropping to the 57kg weight class and winning the Asian Championship.
Dahiya will have to overcome a difficult field where the script can change in an instant before he can even begin worrying about Gilman and flip his silver medal from the 2019 World Championships into gold. In order to grasp how deep and difficult the 57kg weight class is, one needs just examine his half of the draw.
He will be a heavy favorite in the first bout against a Romanian boxer making his senior World Championship debut.
However, from Dahiya’s perspective, just the first bout appears to be a cakewalk. If the 24-year-old prevails over Kovacs, he will face Gulomjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan, who has previously fought Dahiya and nearly overcame Dahiya and Gilman killer Uguev.
Dahiya will face Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov if he is able to pass his first major test. The Russian-born wrestler, who now competes for Albania, is the only person to have beaten Dahiya this year, and he did so in the final of the Don Kolov tournament in Bulgaria.
After clearing this obstacle, Dahiya will face a formidable opponent in the semi-finals, one of the Japanese players Toshihiro Hasegawa or the German player Horst Lehr.
Hasegawa and Lehr, together with Alireza Sarlak of Iran, are two of the few remaining competitors who have a chance to prevent a final showdown between Dahiya and Gilman. The last-four match between Sarlak and Gilman, who are on the same side of the draw, will feature an intriguing Iran vs. USA match with clear political overtones.
Dahiya’s two challengers have solid credentials to win the championship; Hasegawa won the U-23 World Championship in 2018 by defeating Dahiya, who had won bronze at the 2017 World Championships in 61 kilograms.
Last year’s bronze medalist at 57 kilograms, Lehr, gained more notoriety this year when he defeated American champion and defending champion Gilman via pinfall at a ranking series competition in Tunisia.
Dahiya spent a month in Russia practicing to follow in the footsteps of his idol and fellow Chhatrasal Stadium alumnus Sushil Kumar and become India’s second-ever global champion.
And he, too, would like to accomplish that by beating Gilman. A good fight, Dahiya assured UWW. In order to become world champion, “I also want to wrestle him (Gilman) and hope that it occurs in Belgrade.”