Jammu : Olympian Ravi Dahiya on Monday visited Jammu to tank his mentor, who inspired him for Olympics medal.
Dahiya is only the second wrestler in India’s 121-year Olympic history to win an Olympic silver medal, and the first one to do so at his maiden Olympics. Besides, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he became the first Indian male medallist at the Olympics after nine years.
“Very few people know that to accomplish this unparalleled feat for the nation, I have been mentored by my Jammu-based motivator Vickrant Mahajan,” the grappler here told reporters at a press conference.
“My association with Vickrant goes back two and a half years. Vickrant had started a campaign called Goalete Program to motivate India’s athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said.
In 2019, the wrestler said that he went to Chhatrasal Stadium where Ravi Dahiya was one of the wrestlers he motivated.
Ravi said, “Initially my goal was to just qualify for the Olympics. But Vickrant inspired me to set the goal of the Olympic gold and commit myself wholeheartedly to its pursuit.”
Ravi became the first Indian wrestler to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, won the Asian Wrestling Championship in 2020 and 2021 and the gold at Rome World Ranking Series in 2020, besides the historic silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ravi said, “I was nowhere till two and a half years ago. After I met him, I used to call him almost every day for motivation. Even the day of my Olympic final I spoke to him and he is the first person that I called after winning the silver medal.”
“I genuinely feel that the person who played the most pivotal role in getting me on that Olympic podium is Vickrant,” he claimed.
“Together, we have worked out a goal vision for the next 10 years,” said Vickrant adding, “This is just the beginning. And given that Ravi is a lifelong goalete, he will bring a multitude of honours to India from the highest competitions in the world and inspire the world with his excellence in sport and as a human being.”
