EXPLAINED: What is `Technical superiority` which helped Ravi Kumar Dahiya destroy his opponents at Tokyo Olympics

Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya has won pre-quarterfinal, quarterfinal, and semifinal bouts at the Tokyo Olympics on the basis of technical superiority.

India wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya stormed into the finals of the men's freestyle 57kg category at the Tokyo Olympics after defeating Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-finals at Makuhari Messe Hall A, Mat B on Wednesday (July 4). The Indian wrestler won by technical superiority.

The fourth-seeded Indian consistently attacked the right leg of his opponent and apart from conceding a take-down in the first period, he remained dominant.

Dahiya, the reigning Asian champion, nailed the win with one minute and 10 seconds still remaining in the bout.

The Indian effected five take-down moves in the second period, showing his technical prowess.

Notably, this wasn’t the first time that Dahiya won the match on the basis of technical superiority as the Indian wrestler won his pre-quarterfinal and quarterfinal bouts on the basis of the same rule.

Now the question arises what’s ‘Technical Superiority’ which has helped Dahiya destroy his opponents at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics?

EXPLAINED

Win by Technical Superiority (Also called Technical Fall):  If a wrestler pins his opponent at any time before the end of the third period, the match is over and the winning wrestler earns a win by fall (pin), according to the wrestling rules. It is basically the wrestling version of the mercy rule, and it is a sign of dominance.

So, Dahiya, who was trailing by points in the match – 7-9, was still declared the winner because he achieved a ‘pin fall’ over Sanayev.

Watch the video of Ravi Dahiya’s incredible comeback against Sanayev here:

Talking about the semifinal bout, in the first period, Ravi Dahiya managed to take a 2-1 lead and in the second period, the pressure was entirely on Sanayev.

Sanayev bounced back strongly in the second period and he quickly eradicated the lead of Dahiya. Early on, in the second period, the entire pressure was put on the Indian grappler. In the end, Dahiya staged a comeback and as a result, India has been assured of a silver medal.

Meanwhile, Dahiya will now contest the finals on Thursday (July 5) and he is the first to enter the final since Sushil in 2012.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ravi Kumar Dahiya had stormed into the semi-finals of the men's freestyle 57kg category. Fourth-seeded Ravi defeated Bulgaria's Georgi Valentinov Vangelov by pure brute strength and agility at Mat A by 14-4.