I'm from Nahri, Sonipat. My village is in Haryana. And you know the country, it's India. Hello, friends! Our Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya, won a Silver medal in the Olympics last month. And with it, had won the hearts of millions of people. If you had seen his wrestling match, it lasted 6 minutes. But behind those 6 minutes, more than 13 years' hard work went in. You had seen only Ravi on your screens, but behind this one person, was the sacrifices of many more people. You can't even fathom it. Whenever our Indian media talks about these athletes, it's only during the Olympics and then later forgets them., And even during the coverage they're given, they end up being asked useless questions. In today's special ground report, friends, I would like to show you the real life of an Olympic champion. The hardships they need to go through. Come, let's get to know Ravi Kumar Dahiya's interesting story. Ravi Dahiya's story began two generations ago. With his grandfather Raju Dahiya. Raju Dahiya was a young man living in the Nahri village in Haryana's Sonipat district. He was very fond of hockey. My father and grandfather were hockey players. They didn't have many facilities so what could they have done? So they had to stick with farming. He loved sports, especially hockey. He was very good at it. But he didn't have anyone supporting him. So he couldn't continue playing hockey. He went to Sonipat and even Rohtak. But couldn't go further. Their family wasn't affluent. So he was forced to get a job to earn money. He worked as a bus conductor in DTC. He got married to Savitri. And had 4 kids. Rakesh, Rajesh, Anil and Sunita. His eldest son was Rakesh. He was very interested in wrestling. But the salary of a bus conductor enabled him to barely run his household. So like his father, Rakesh was also under a lot of pressure. Especially because he was the eldest son. For me as well, there were many responsibilities from we were 10 or 12 years old. My family wasn't well off. There were many expenses with so many members in the family. "Rakesh was also very interested in wrestling, wasn't he?" Yeah, he was, but then he had to start working. He had to provide for the family, for the well-being of his siblings. My brother is very considerate and hard working. I've seen him do it all. He paid for my wedding. He paid for the wedding of my other brothers. Our father had gotten into an accident,
so he looked after our father. He got married to a woman named Urmila. And he had two sons,
Ravi and Pankaj. Ravi was also a sports aficionado. He inherited his passion for sports from his father and grandfather. The younger brother started wrestling. I told him to focus on his studies, what would become of wrestling. But he said, "No grandma, I'd study and wrestle." His teacher used to tell him, "Ravi, you have to become smart, you should study diligently." He'd say, "I'd study and I'll also go for training." But unfortunately, a farmer does not earn better than a DTC conductor. His family could barely survive on the income. But Rakesh had decided, even though his father couldn't fulfil his dream, even though he couldn't fulfil his dream either, he would work as hard as he could so that his son could fulfil his. I never frightened him telling him that getting a job is his only option. I never believed that. I told him to work hard, so that he had no regrets later. When he'd be too old to do anything. Thinking 'had I worked harder, I could have become like the wrestler Sushil Kumar.' Ravi started to train in his village. In wrestler Hans Raj's akhada (dojo). When Pankaj and Ravi were young, Hans Raj told us to send them to the akhada. I told him that the children were quite young. What would they do there? He said, "Let them go, they'll learn this way." Hans Raj had a government job. He had also pursued a career in professional wrestling. But one day, he had a spiritual calling. And he became a monk. But unlike other monks, he didn't go to the Himalayas leaving everything behind. He let go of his personal ambitions. He gave up his personal desires. And he focused on selfless service to the world. He provided free wrestling coaching to children. Regardless of religion, caste or class. He taught wrestling to all the children in the village for free. I trained him for 4 years. After that when he had learned the basics, I sent him to my teacher, wrestler Satpal. *Oh, okay.* His contribution to his career is unmatchable,
I'm also his student. He is Ravi's coach. I couldn't take him to the place he is now because we don't have the appropriate facilities. Our facilities are sufficient till the 5th grade only. Yup, after training Ravi for some time, he sent Ravi to the Chhatrasal Stadium. To Coach Satpal. My start was with my teacher back in the village, Hans Raj. He was also Coach Satpal's student. I started with him. After training for some time with him, he brought me here. Saying that I needed a bigger platform, better trainers and better competitors. That only if I could be with them and get inspired by them, I could succeed. Ravi Dahiya was only 10 years old then. Obviously, it wasn't easy for his mother Urmila, to see her 10-year-old child move away from her. But she didn't let her love bound Ravi. When I was younger, when a 10-year-old child moves away from a mother, of course, she's heartbroken. but she tried to adjust to the situation. I sent him with the belief that he would achieve great things in his life. He said that he would make us proud. Now I think she'd be accustomed to it. Poor thing, she only wants her child to be successful, nothing more. That's all a mother wants, the success of her child. Today, there are numerous options for succeeding. Like, if you didn't get a seat in your favourite college, don't stress. You can use platforms like upGard even from your home, you can study at reputable universities, in fact, even at reputable foreign universities, you can study from them and earn your degree online. upGrad is India's largest online higher education company. They offer programs and degrees in loads of fields. Data science, software and technology, management, finance, law, and they have partnerships with many top universities in the world. Like IIT Madras, IIIT(B), Liverpool John Moores University, Deakin University, University of Arizona, O.P. Jindal, and many more. And apart from degrees their world-class faculty also offers career support, learner support, industry mentorship support. They have a strong placement team of more than 50 people. And a learner support team with more than 100 people. And obviously, they teach an industry-relevant curriculum. That is not offered by a normal college. They teach the things that are actually used in jobs. If you are interested, do check them out. The link to it is in the description below. Now coming back to our topic. It wasn't about only one decision by Rakesh and Urmila. It wasn't only about seeing their son be taken away. They had to make many more sacrifices. Because they had limited money. They didn't buy anything for themselves. There were many expenses for their son's coaching. And a lack of funds. Rakesh couldn't ride a motorcycle. He used to go to the stadium in Delhi with milk and butter. Then he would come back and work in the fields. Every day without a motorcycle. If I had to sow tomatoes or something else, or get fertilisers weighing several kilos, I didn't hire labourers, I did it all myself
to save whatever little I could. Because it would help in the children's upbringing. If I spent on labourers, how could I afford my children's expenses? As for inheritance, Rakesh had only 0.5 acres of land. But he took 15-20 acres of land on lease. Additionally, he took out a loan to buy a cow. To ensure that his son could get a good and sufficient diet. Urmila woke up at 4:30 am every day. I would wake up before sunrise. I would prepare the fodder and feed the cows and then I would milk the cows so that grandma could churn it into butter. And then he would take it to Ravi. I'd walk 2-2.5 km from there I'd take the bus. And from there it was about 0.5 - 0.75 km to the railway station. I'd walk to it. I'd catch a train at 6:30 in the morning. It's been 12-13 years, I have been taking this route continously. And then I'd get off at Old Azadpur about 2-2.5 km from the Chhatrasal Stadium in Model Town. I'd walk to it. It's the same while returning, walking, taking buses and trains. He used to come here from the beginning. Bringing milk and yoghurt for me ever since I was here. Sometimes my uncle would come with the milk. My father or my uncle would come. My uncle works in the police around here so he'd come sometimes. I butter, milk and yoghurt with me daily. After he'd work out, I'd feed him butter. I used to take a tub of 150-200 grams. I fed him that. Then after stretching he'd climb the ropes. He returned home by 11 in the morning. And then the husband and wife would start working in the fields. And looking after their cattle. Then I worked in my fields. Day and night. I'd sleep a little at night or in the morning. Once he had taken a loan to buy a tractor. But the harvest wasn't good in that season. Funds were quite scarce. He was afraid of being sucked into a Debt Trap. Even ₹735 felt like ₹100,00. I had paid off ₹100,000 of the loan of ₹150,000. At that time, interest was the same as the outstanding principal. I couldn't pay it off, how could I pay it off? Then I started working harder, growing more crops, the yields were better, And then paid the instalments to pay off the loan. After that, I've never taken any more loans. At this time, when Ravi asked for money for his regular expenses, with a heavy heart, Rakesh had to tell him to manage somehow for some days. That he would soon arrange the money in a few days. And he did arrange the money in a few days, by taking some more fields on lease. Friends in many villages, the fields get water through canals. And often people have to wait for their turn to water their fields. Often, Rakesh had to wait through the night for his turn. Sitting in his field, he would look at the moon and would dream of the day when his son would win a medal. And then, sometime later, Ravi started winning medals. I participated in some championships. That was in 2010-2012. I earned my first medal in Sub-Junior was in 2013. I took part in the Asian Championship in 2013, and I won the Silver medal. He won two medals in one month. Gold in Asian Junior
and Silver in World Junior. But then he got an injury on his knee. While he was participating in World Junior. His knee hit the mat. He did go to the finals. But the finals had to be delayed as his knee had cramped and was swollen. I had to stay put with the injury for some years during 2016-17. And then 2018, I won the Silver medal in the U23 World Championship. I could make a decent comeback. Like this, by accepting the failures, and celebrating the success, Ravi reached the Olympics. I watched two but I couldn't watch the third match because I watch so nervous. We were watching it on the TV at home. I couldn't watch it, it was so nerve-wracking. But we prayed to God for him to win. He had to win for the country. The TV was set up in the yard, there was no room to even stand there such a large crowd had gathered. What happened next, was historic. As all of us know, Ravi won a Silver medal in the Olympics. And when he returned to his village, our reporter Vijeta Dahiya was there. Filming all the activities in the village. Two other wrestlers from Nahari village reached Olympics. It began with Mahavir. And then Amit went to the Olympics in 2012. And then Ravi went to the 2020 Olympics. Mahavir and Amit though they didn't win a medal, reaching the Olympics is no small feat. Obviously, they were sources of inspiration for Ravi Dahiya. Apart from the wrestlers Hans Raj and Satpal, Ravi had several other coaches who had played huge roles in his success. Lalit Kumar, Ashok Sharma, Praveen Dahiya Jaiveer Dahiya, Ajit Mann, and a Russian coach as well, Kamal Malikov. A special mention to the wrestler Arun Dahiya, who is also from Nahari village. He was his senior so Ravi followed him around. He's been with him for 12-13 years now. He guided Ravi. He cared for him like a brother. Ravi's younger brother Pankaj has also given a lot of moral support to his brother. Had even trained with him in the stadium. Obviously, the encouragement of friends and relatives, has its own importance. All of us could learn a very important lesson from Ravi's inspirational story. Some people think wrestling is a game of only physical strength. Some people can think a step ahead and accept that one also needs technique in wrestling. But many people miss out on the third factor. The Right Attitude. We see many athletes that have won world championships. But lost in the Olympics. Perhaps a big reason for it is that Olympics is such a large platform with tens of millions of people watching you, some nervousness is expected at being there. So how did Ravi counter this pressure? First of all, people didn't have a large expectation of me. Secondly, the people connected to wrestling all of them and our WFI and the kids in wrestling and their families, had high expectations of me. But the others weren't really concerned. Because I was continually performing well for the last 2-3 years. And I believed in myself. I knew something good would come out of the Olympic games. Confidence does play a major role, but how can one keep oneself calm? How can one soothe the nerves in such a high-pressure situation? Not only during a sporting event during a major exam too, for example. When you go to take the UPSC exam or when you give a musical performance on stage. You have many things going around in your mind. There are many emotions at play within you. See, most importantly, the time is such that during that time, there's only one thing on my mind that whatever I've learned, the way I wrestle, I need to wrestle. And I focus on however it turns out, I need to try my best to win till the very last second. I need to give my 100%
and then whatever God wills will happen. Ravi believes that the most important thing is being in the moment. The way you expect to focus on the final day of the result, on the final day of the performance, you need to focus like that during the practice as well. He isn't interested in watching TV. He isn't interested in socialising. He has no pastimes. His father doesn't have any hobbies and neither does he. -Only wrestling?
-Yeah, he's mad about wrestling. He's shown the world with his hard work. His hard work shone brightly. The calm attitude in Ravi is perhaps from his father. Because, as his father told us, there was a time when there was a crisis when 10 acres of his fields had caught fire. They burned down. Yeah, there was a fire;
do you know what happened? There was a machine and a labourer to cut the crop with it. There were sparks from it. And anyone could make that mistake. He hadn't intentionally caused the fire. It was a mistake, how could we punish him? My father thought that if it were us in his place, how could we have paid compensation? He thought that it wasn't right to make him pay. We need to be thankful for the blessings of God, and be at peace with whatever God decides to give us and have faith that we'll get more in the future. After that, God showed us wonderful results. In April 2019 my fields burned down. And after 2-3 months, Ravi got a job in the railway. And 2-4 months later, he got the ticket to the Olympics. So this spirit of forgiveness, The spirit of looking at things from other people's perspectives, is also evident in Ravi. If you remember, during the semi-final match, his opponent had not shown this sportsmanship spirit when he bit Ravi's arm. This photo went viral then. When he realised that things weren't in his favour, he bit Ravi in an attempt to win. Many people were angry at his opponent Sanayev. Many demanded action against his opponent. But when Ravi was asked, he brushed it off as not a big deal. Saying that such scuffles were common in wrestling. And that he had let go of this incident on the mat itself. And that he had no hard feelings against Sanayev. The next day, Sanayev and Ravi hugged it out while Sanayev apologised to Ravi. Ravi says that the two of them are friends and you can see many photos of them together. I am not saying that every Olympic champion is good-hearted. But if someone is good-hearted, then they definitely get all the help they need. See, my stance is that to be a good athlete is not a big deal. What matters first is the kind of person you are. Whom do you meet? How are the people around you guiding you? That is the biggest thing. You perform for a limited time. You're in your form for some years. You can't be in your form all your life. Our story for this video ends here. But Ravi's story has only begun. He'll bring home the Gold medal someday. I pray to God that Ravi brings home the Gold medal after 3 years. Let's see what God does. I told him that I want to see him win the Gold medal. There are a lot of expectations for the next Olympics. Not only his family members but millions of Indians are pinning their hopes on him. Obviously, there are many more Olympics to come. And there 3 years till the next one. Saying that the next time I perform will be in the Olympics would be wrong. Because wrestling is a sport where the more you're connected to it, the more you participate in tournaments and keep performing, the better would the body improve. So I plan to focus on the next tournaments and I'd be ready for the Olympics when the time comes. And meanwhile, many new and young Ravi Dahiyas are training in his village. They're getting ready to become the new Olympic champions. My name is Ugam. I come here every day in the morning and in the evening to learn wrestling. Wrestler Hans Raj teaches me wrestling. I want to win the Gold medal in the Olympics.
