CWG 2022: Ravi Kumar Dahiya wins gold in men's freestyle 57kg wrestling

Ravi Dahiya added another feather to his cap as he beat Nigeria's Ebikewenimo Welson to win the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday. This is Ravi's first Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Ravi, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, had an easy path to the final as he beat New Zealand's Suraj Singh and Pakistan's Asad Ali via technical superiority. His opponent in the final, Welson, a seasoned campaigner, had represented Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games in each edition since 2010. He has two silvers and a bronze to his name, with his last medal [bronze] coming at the 2018 Games in Goldcoast.

Welson, however, did not pose much of a challenge as Ravi outdid him in two minutes and 16 seconds. The Indian initiated a takedown a minute into the bout and then held on to his grip to inflict three more takedowns to race to an 8-0 lead. The bout was all but over at this point and Ravi managed a fifth takedown soon after to add to his ever-expanding medal tally.

Ravi burst into the scene with his silver medal win at the 2015 World Juniors Championships, which he followed up with a silver medal at the 2018 World U23 Championships. Ravi, who has been India's most consistent wrestler over the last two years, won gold at the Asian Championships and defended his title the following year before his historic medal at Tokyo.

He became just the second Indian wrestler, after Sushil Kumar [who won silver at the 2012 Olympics] to win an Olympic silver medal. More recently, Ravi won gold at the Yasar Dogu tournament in February this year.