Express News Service
CHENNAI: The euphoria and celebrations refuse to die down even as India completes a week since its most successful Olympic campaign ever. Felicitation functions are lined up for medal winners and other participants for the next week or so.
However, when normalcy is restored, these athletes desperately want to get back to their old routine of preparing for the upcoming championships. For Tokyo Olympics silver medallist wrestler Ravi Dahiya, the World Championships scheduled in Oslo, Norway, from October 2 to 10 is the next event to set sights on.
“The celebratory functions are lined up at the moment. As soon as this gets over, I have to focus on the next tournament. Obviously, the World Championships is my next target,” the 57kg wrestler told this daily from Chhatrasal Stadium.
The Haryana wrestler had punched the ticket to Tokyo with a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships. After the Olympic high, the event will once again set him in motion for future goals. However, this time, the Worlds will be different for Ravi as he will compete in 61kg.
“If I compete in the Worlds this edition, I will compete in 61kg,” revealed the 23-year-old wrestler.
Maintaining weight has always been an issue for wrestlers, and for Ravi, who competes in the lowest weight category in men’s freestyle, the issue is of great significance. But he doesn’t want to look that far ahead at the moment.
“I haven’t thought much about changing weight category. It’s still three years for the Paris Games. I have time for that.” Ravi’s foreign coach Kamal Malikov has left for Russia.
Contracts of these personal coaches were till the Tokyo Games. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has recently said it will get the wrestlers’ feedback before extending the contracts.
“He has left for now but I expect the coach to join me in a month,” informed Ravi.
Meanwhile, the celebrations will continue till next week, starting with the Independence Day felicitation programme.
“Yes, I am attending the felicitation function hosted by the Prime Minister. After that, a program will be organized at my village Nahri on August 18 followed by a function to be hosted by the Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow the next day. This celebration is expected to continue till the end of this month which means I probably can start training from next month only.”
The WFI is expected to organise selection trials in the first week of September to pick the team for the Worlds and Ravi is ready to participate in the trials if asked to.
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