Dahiya shuffled between the 61 and 57kg weight classes in the last few months, Gilman has started to look unstoppable since the Tokyo Games.As Ravi Dahiya navigates a minefield of a draw at the World Championships on Friday, the World and Olympic silver medallist will simultaneously have one eye fixed on the other half of the field. That’s where one of his main rivals and potentially the biggest hurdle between him and the gold, the reigning world champion Thomas Gilman of the US, will be charting his road to what is being billed as one of the must-watch matches of these Championships.
Gilman and Dahiya, the top two seeds (in that order), have never faced each other in their careers. Barring an upset, that’s likely to change this weekend. The two men are expected to lead the narrative in the 57kg class – an open weight category that’s devoid so far of such a rivalry – heading into the Paris Olympics. They look set to meet in Saturday’s final.
And if that happens, expect a physical, fast-paced bout. Though they have never faced off, Dahiya and Gilman have one common link – both were halted in their tracks at the Tokyo Games by Zavur Uguev, the eventual Olympic champion. Uguev first defeated Gilman, who went on to win the bronze medal, in the Round of 16 by just one point. And then, in the final, he beat Dahiya.
With the Russian absent from the Belgrade Worlds, the fight for the gold medal seems like a straight shoot-off between the Olympic silver and bronze medallists. And while Dahiya shuffled between the 61 and 57kg weight classes in the last few months, Gilman has started to look unstoppable since the Tokyo Games.
At last year’s World Championships in Oslo, which Dahiya skipped, Gilman won the gold medal in style and has finished on the top of the podium in the three events he’s competed in this year – two international tournaments, Pan-Am Championships and Zouhaier Sghaier ranking series; and the Final X tournament that determines the American team for the World Championships.
Having a reputation of being a brawler, most of Gilman’s wins in all these tournaments have come by either technical superiority or by pinning his opponent. If it comes to that, Dahiya’s endurance will be tested to the limit against the American, who is aggressive and likes to physically impose himself on his opponents.
Dahiya, whose natural weight hovers around 60-61 kilos, has found it tough this year to cut his weight down to 57kg to compete in tournaments. For this reason, he competed in the 61kg weight class at the Yasar Dogu and Dan Kolov tournaments before cutting down to 57 for the Asian Championship, where he won the title.
Weight management aside, before Dahiya even begins to worry about Gilman so as to upgrade his 2019 World Championship silver into gold, he will have to battle through an extremely tricky field, where the script can turn in an instant. A look at his half of the draw gives an understanding of how deep and tough the 57kg weight class is.
He’ll be the favourite in the opener against Romania’s Razvan Marian Kovacs, making his senior World Championship debut, but it’s the only bout that looks straightforward from Dahiya’s point of view. If he beats Kovacs, the 24-year-old will face Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev, who has defeated Dahiya in the past and almost beat Dahiya and Gilman slayer Uguev.
If Dahiya overcomes his first big test, he will face Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov. The Russian-born wrestler, who transferred his nationality to compete for Albania and has a freestyle World Cup gold medal to his name, is the only person who has defeated Dahiya this year in the final of the Don Kolov tournament in Bulgaria.
Once past this hurdle, Dahiya will face a stern test in the semifinal, with either Toshihiro Hasegawa of Japan or Germany’s Horst Lehr waiting for him. Along with Iran’s Alireza Sarlak, Hasegawa and Lehr are among the few contenders who can spoil the potential final match-up between Dahiya and Gilman. Sarlak and Gilman, who are on the same side of the draw, will make for an exciting Iran vs USA clash in the last four with obvious political undertones.
The two contenders in Dahiya’s half have proper credentials to challenge for the title – Hasegawa, a bronze medallist in 61kg at last year’s Worlds, had defeated Dahiya to become the U-23 World Champion in 2018. Lehr, who won the 57kg bronze last year, added to his growing reputation by pinning Gilman at the ranking series tournament in Tunisia this year – the only loss the American has suffered in 2022.
Dahiya spent a month training in Russia in his bid to become only the second world champion from India and follow the footsteps of his Chhatrasal Stadium alumnus and mentor Sushil Kumar. And even he’s hoping to achieve that feat by defeating Gilman. “It will be a good bout,” Dahiya told UWW. “I also want to wrestle him (Gilman) and hope that it happens in Belgrade because I really want to be a world champion.”