new delhi sushil kumars sensational fall from grace was a body blow to indian wrestlings reputation but the breathtaking rise of ravi dahiya at the olympics along with bajrang punias expected success at the tokyo games prevented the sport from falling into a dark abyss in the year 2021if it brought mental trauma for vinesh phogat whose olympic dream lay shattered once again the year also propped up a new star for indian wrestling in anshu malik who entered the history books as the first ever indian woman to reach the world championship finalwhen he was preparing himself for one last hurrah at the tokyo games sushil a doyen of indian wrestling found himself lodged in tihar jail after being chargesheeted in the murder case of a fellow wrestler sagar dhankarthe sordid incident was a huge jolt for the game which had barely shed its muchtalked about links with crime on the back of consistent success in world wrestlingthe way the 38year old sushil the only indian wrestler to have won two olympic medals and a world title played hide and seek with the police before being arrested sort of exposed the seedy underbelly of indian wrestlingnevertheless despair made way for hope as the countdown began for the tokyo gamesbajrang and vinesh were pregames favourites they were considered a certainty on the podium given the astounding success they had achieved in the last two yearsbut eventually what became part of indian wrestlings folklore was ravis phoenixlike rise in his semifinal against kazakhstans nurislam sanayevtrailing 29 with less than a minute to go ravi turned the bout on its head and pinned his rival showing immense physical prowess and mental toughness the usually shy and reticent ravi best expresses himself on the mat and he did that with aplomb when it matteredhe could not repeat his success in the final against russias zavur uguev that left him disappointed but it was enough to make him an overnight star after all he was only the second indian who was competing for an olympic goldwhile bajrang too stood on the podium a bronze medal did not feel like an achievement as he was billed as a contender for gold from the beginningafter his 2019 world bronze he hardly lost a tournament and despite the tough competition in his 65kg category bajrang was expected to reach at least the final given the hype around himlater he revealed that the knee injury he suffered in russia in a tournament had severely crippled him still a medal had to be celebrated and it further enhanced his reputation of being a global starthe two medals out of seven qualifications ensured that wrestling continued to contribute in indias success at the olympic stage since the 2008 editionbut lightning struck vinesh one of the most dominant wrestlers of this era when she crashed out of the games despite being a hot favourite for the 53kg title it was the second time that despite being capable and worthy