Tokyo Olympics: Bajrang Punia loses semi-final bout; still in contention for Bronze medal

Bajrang Punia lost men's 65kg freestyle semi-final bout against Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan 12-5 at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday, August 6. While Punia is out of contention for the gold medal match, he will be fighting for the consolation prize in a bronze medal. Even though Bajrang Punia did try his level best to close down the deficit, Haji Aliyev did not give him any chance for staging a comeback.

Haji Aliyev dominated the proceedings from the start as the Indian wrestler played a catch-up game with clock ticking from the other end. Even though Punia did score the first point, Aliyev recovered quickly and turned the tables completely on his Indian rival.

Bajrang Punia will now be facing ROC's Gadzhimurad Rashidov in the bronze medal match.

Tokyo Olympics: Bajrang Punia's road to semi-finals

Earlier, Bajrang Punia fought hard and managed to win the quarterfinal match against Iran's Morteza Ghiasi Cheka by pinning him down and advancing to the semi-final.

Punia, who is seeded number two in the event started the contest on the back foot as he conceded a shot clock for passivity and gave one point to Morteza Ghiasi Cheka going into the second half. The second half saw the Iranian wrestler trying to take the point from Bajrang as the referee again charged the Indian for passivity.

However, this time the 27-year-old Indian wrestler did not surrender to Ghiasi's right leg hold and defended brilliantly. As the clock ticked down Bajrang completed a stunning comeback first with a takedown worth two points and then he pinned Ghiasi's shoulders onto the mat to pick up the win. 

Prior to his Q/F bout, he defeated Ernazar Akmataliev of Kyrgyzstan. The bout between Bajrang and Akmataliev ended with a score tied on 3-3 but the Indian prevailed because he had the criteria with him (higher point-scoring move, a 2-pointer in the first period).

The match started with the Indian wrestler being given one point after the Kyrgyzstani wrestler was given a passivity charge. Ernazar pushed Bajrang out of bounds to make the scoreline 1-1. Just before the end of round 1, Bajrang took Ernazar down superbly and led 3-1. The second round saw Ernazar charge at Punia and push him out of the mat twice to make the score 3-3 with 7.9 seconds left. However, Bajrang still won because of his two-point move.

Image: AP