Grappler Ravi Kumar Dahiya made history as he became the third Indian ever to have secured a silver medal at the Olympics.
Dahiya staged a stunning comeback against Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev after he had nearly lost the contest - his rival was leading 9-2 at one point in the encounter. Despite the Kazakh winning eight points in a row and having the bout within his grasp, Dahiya never let his spirits flag and, like a phoenix, rose from the ashes to stun his rival in the concluding stages of the clash.
During the match, Dahiya was never out of his depth despite his opponent's superlative performance in the first half.
At 2-9, he made his first move, pushing Sanayev out of the mat to bring down the deficit to 5-9.
The Indian grappler's three-point move completely stunned the Kazakh wrestler who also happened to choose that moment to suffer an injury to his leg.
Once Sanayev hurt his leg and was seen limping on the mat, Dahiya seized his opportunity with both hands, pinning him down to earn, sealing a hard fought victory over him before taking his place in the final of the competition.
Thanks to his remarkable achievement of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in Tokyo, Dahiya joins wrestler Sushil Kumar and badminton player Pusarla Venkata Sindhu as the only other Indians who have won a silver medal at the Olympics. Kumar at the London Games in 2012 and Sindhu in Rio in 2016.
Dahiya is also the fourth Indian wrestler to win a medal at the quadrennial sports mega-event, his three predecessors being Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav (bronze at Helsinki in 1952), Sushil Kumar (bronze in 2008 in Beijing and silver in London 2012) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze in London 2012).