India’s Bajrang Punia to fight for bronze after semis loss at Tokyo Olympics

India’s Bajrang Punia lost 12-5 to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev in the semi-finals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics men’s 65kg wrestling event at the Makuhari Messe Hall on Friday.

The loss means Bajrang Punia will be competing for the bronze medal in the event on Saturday. He will face the winner of the repechage round bout between Senegal’s Adama Diatta and Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov.

Up against Haji Aliyev, the Rio 2016 bronze-medallist in 57kg and a three-time world champion in 61kg, Bajrang Punia looked to go on the offence early and gained the first point of the bout through a passivity penalty on Aliyev.

Going behind seemed to spur on the Azerbaijan wrestler, who scored back-to-back takedowns and took a 4-1 lead into the second period.

With Bajrang Punia forced to throw caution to the wind, Aliyev took advantage of the opening and scored another four points after getting hold of the Indian wrestler’s ankles and twirling him around a couple of times.

Bajrang Punia tried to claw his way back in the bout, but Aliyev kept picking up points of his own to win the bout 12-5.

Aliyev will face Japan’s Takuto Otoguro, the 2018 world champion, in the gold medal match. 

Earlier, Bajrang Punia beat Iran’s Morteza Ghiasi by fall in the quarter-finals and survived a close shave against Ernazar Akmataliev of Kyrgyzstan in the round of 16 to enter the semis.

Against Ghiasi, Bajrang Punia seemed to be on the backfoot as the Iranian targeted Bajrang Punia’s right knee, seemingly injured and heavily strapped.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the second period, the Indian seemed to be on the backfoot initially against Ghiasi’s relentless attacks but turned the tables emphatically with one swift move to pin his opponent’s shoulders to the mat and earn a victory by fall.

In the round of 16 against Akmataliev, the 27-year-old Bajrang Punia, marking his Olympic debut, narrowly escaped with a win.

Bajrang Punia seemed to be in a comfortable position, leading 3-1 with seconds left on the clock but Akmataliev levelled the score up with two late push outs and had the Indian wrestler defending for his life in the closing stages.

Despite the match ending with the score 3-3, Bajrang Punia took the win since he had scored the highest-scoring move in the match - the two-point takedown in the first period. All of Akmataliev’s points in the bout came through 1-point pushouts.