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On Sunday, Ravi Kumar Dahiya withdrew from the Bishkek Ranking Series after hurting his knee during a warm-up session. In the Qualification round, Dahiya was slated to face Taiyrbek Zhumashbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan while competing in a new weight class of 61 kg. Dahiya was scheduled to compete for the first time since winning the 57 kg gold medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. It is to be noted that Dahiya has been recovering from a knee injury sustained at the Chhatrasal Stadium for the past three months, but it appears that the injury has worsened now.
Meanwhile, in the same weight division, Pankaj defeated Georgia's Giorgi Goniashvili in the qualification round on points 8-2 to advance to a quarter-final matchup with fellow countryman Aman Sehrawat. Mulayam Singh defeated Doszhan Assetov of Kazakhstan 9-4 to go to the quarter-finals in the 70 kg division. India has so far taken home four medals from the competition. After Greco-Roman wrestler Manjeet (55kg) won bronze on Thursday, India's total now stands at four, thanks to the three medals earned by India women on Saturday.
"Ravi has recovered from his right knee injury that he sustained in January this year but during the warm up, he suffered a strain on the same knee. Since Asian Games trials are near, he decided to pull out of the event as he did not want to risk aggravating the injury," said a member of the Indian support staff.
Ravi Dahiya was a prominent figure in the wrestlers' protest in January this year against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), who was accused of harassing seven female wrestlers, including a minor. Dahiya, however, remained resolutely silent about the matter this time.