Tokyo Olympics: Bajrang Punia to vie for 65kg freestyle wrestling bronze, watch live in India
Bajrang Punia will face the winner of the repechage between Adama Diatta and Daulet Niyazbekov. Watch Olympics wrestling live!
Following a semi-final defeat to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev on Friday, India’s Bajrang Punia will return to the Makuhari Messe Hall on Saturday for the Tokyo Olympics 65kg freestyle wrestling bronze medal match.
Bajrang Punia will face either Senegal’s Adama Diatta or Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov in the medal match. Diatta and Niyazbekov will square off early on Saturday in the repechage round for their spot in the medal bout.
Diatta is an eight-time African champion but the 32-year-old has won all his medals in lower weight categories. Competing in 65kg at Tokyo 2020, the Senegalese wrestler lost to Aliyev in the round of 16.
Daulet Niyazbekov, who lost to Aliyev in the quarter-finals, is a more reputed wrestler in this category. The Kazakh is a three-time Asian champion and has two world championship medals to his name.
Niyazbekov, in fact, defeated Bajrang in the 2019 world championships semi-finals en route to winning silver.
In the gold medal match, Aliyev will face Japan’s Takuto Otoguro, the 2018 world champion.
ROC’s Gadzhimurad Rashidov, the reigning world champion, will feature in the second bronze medal match. His probable opponents from repechage are Mongolia’s Tumur Ochir Tulga and Hungary’s Iszmail Muszukajev.
Bajrang Punia’s Tokyo Olympics freestyle 65kg wrestling bronze medal match, schedule and live India start time
All times are India Standard Times (IST)
August 7, Saturday
Repechage
Adama Diatta (Senegal) vs Daulet Niyazbekov (Kazakhstan) - 3:22 PM IST
Bronze medal match
Bajrang Punia vs winner of repechage - 3:55 PM IST
Where to watch Bajrang Punia’s Tokyo Olympics wrestling bronze medal match live in India?
Bajrang Punia’s 65kg men’s freestyle wrestling bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics will be telecast live on the Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 2 HD, Sony SIX and Sony SIX HD TV channels in India.
Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 3 HD, Sony TEN 4 and Sony TEN 4 HD will broadcast Tokyo 2020 in regional languages.
Live streaming of the Tokyo Olympics wrestling event will be available on Sony LIV. Fans can follow live updates from Tokyo 2020 on Olympics.com.