Vinod Kumar Dahiya

Vinod Kumar Dahiya (born 1 January 1986), also known as Vinod Kumar, is an Indian-Australian Greco-Roman wrestler who competes in the 66 kg category.

Vinod Kumar Dahiya
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1986-01-01) 1 January 1986
Khanda, Sonipat, Haryana
Height155 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleGreco-Roman
ClubUnited Wrestling Club
CoachKuldip Bassi

Life and career

Dahiya was born on 1 January 1986 in the Indian village of Khanda, Sonipat in Haryana. He began wrestling in 1994, and joined Satpal Singh's coaching akhara in Delhi in 1998.[1]

In 2001, while returning home from a wrestling tournament, Dahiya was pushed out of a moving night train by two men, one of whom was the father of a rival wrestler. Dahiya was discovered in the morning by rail workers who admitted him to a hospital. The injuries left him bed-ridden for a year, during which his weight dropped to 40 kg. His family members rejected the compensation offered by the perpetrators and launched legal action against them.[1][2]

In 2009, Dahiya finished third at the Australia Cup and decided to move to Australia following Sandeep Kumar's suggestion. He gathered ₹17 lakh from his relatives and by taking loans, and moved to Melbourne in 2010. He trained at United Wrestling Club under Kuldip Bassi, the then president of Wrestling Australia.[1][3] Due to shortage of money, he worked as a newspaper hawker, bouncer and courier.[1][2]

Dahiya acquired Australian citizenship in 2015. He represented Australia for the first time at the 66 kg Greco-Roman event of the 2016 Oceania Wrestling Championships in New Zealand and won the gold medal.[4] By 2016, he won six national championships in Australia.[5] He won the silver medal at 2016 African & Oceania Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament and qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He thus became the second Indian-born Australian wrestler to qualify for the Olympics.[6][7] However, in July 2016, he was handed a four-year ban after failing a doping test conducted at the Olympic qualification tournament in April, and was subsequently removed from the Australian Olympic contingent.[8]

References
  1. Siwach, Vinay (1 May 2016). "Vinod Kumar – Dangal wrestler, immigrant, newspaper hawker, bouncer… now Olympian from Australia". The Indian Express. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  2. Ransom, Ian (2 June 2016). "Wrestler Vinod Kumar on track for Rio Olympics after being thrown from train". Reuters. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  3. "Haryana-born wrestler Dahiya to represent Australia at Rio Olympics". Rediff. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  4. Dutta, Subhasish (26 April 2016). "Indian-origin wrestler set to represent Australia at Rio Olympics". India Today. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  5. Bharadwaj, Jitarth Jai; Sarwal, Amit (8 April 2016). "With no money in his pocket, he dreams to win an Olympic Gold for Australia". SBS. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  6. Singh, Manpreet K.; Kainth, Shamsher (17 April 2016). "Vinod Kumar confident of bringing Olympic glory to Australia". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  7. Kumari, Nidhi (1 June 2016). "From a small village in Haryana to bringing Australia on international map". Indus Age. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  8. "Australian wrestler Vinod Kumar to be axed from Olympics after doping ban". The Guardian. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
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