New Delhi: Young grappler Ronak Dahiya returned to the legendary Chhatrasal Akhada on Friday after securing a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 110kg category at the U-17 World Wrestling Championship in Amman, Jordan.
Trained and inspired by a long line of senior wrestlers, Ronak spoke to IANS and explained how being surrounded by absolute greats in the likes of ‘Mahabali’ Satpal Singh, Sushil Kumar, Ravi Dahiya and now Aman Sehrawat has inspired him to work harder towards the collective dream of winning an Olympic medal.
“Satpal sir, Sushil, Ravi, Aman are the source of my inspiration and if god allows it I will also get a medal and hopefully I can act as inspiration for my younger brothers and that will propel them forward,” Ronak told IANS.
The Chhatrasal Akhada has a stellar reputation under the tutelage of legendary wrestling coach Satpal Singh of curating Olympic medal winning wrestlers. A total of six medals have been won by athletes from the Akhada with Sushil Kumar having won the honour twice and Aman, Ravi Dahiya, Bajrang Punia and Yogeshwar Dutt all having won one medal each.
Ronak began his bronze medal-winning campaign with a 8-1 win over Artur Manvelian and followed that up with a commanding technical superiority victory over Daniil Maslakou.
Although Ronak, ranked world number 2 in his age and weight category, lost 0-2 in his semifinal bout to Hungary’s Zoltan Czako, he went on to defeat Turkiye’s Emurullah Capkan 6-1 in the bronze medal match on Tuesday.
“I have been wrestling for seven-eight years. Sushil Kumar won a medal in 2008 and 2012 and the craze in me increased significantly as I got to see the amount of love and respect from people given when you win a medal at the Olympics. I went to the airport to pick Ravi Dahiya in 2021 when he returned after winning a medal and it got me excited to repeat the feat. Now, my brother Aman, who practices with me, has become a huge name in wrestling so it makes me very happy and inspired,” he added.
–IANS