Bajrang Loses In The Semi Final, Will Fight For Bronze

New Delhi: Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has lost the Semi Final of the men’s freestyle 65kg weight class event at the Tokyo Olympics. Bajrang tried hard but three-time World Champion and Rio Olympic Bronze medalist, Haji Aliev of Azerbaijan proved too good for him. Haji won by a huge margin of 12-5. Bajrang still has a chance to win a Bronze medal. India’s medal count is five, with 2 Silver and 3 Bronze, in the Tokyo Olympics.

After Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Sushil Kumar, Bajrang was eyeing to become the third Indian Wrestler to contest in a Gold medal bout. Both Ravi and Sushil lost in the Finals and settled for the Silver medal. Bajrang's dream was shattered in a one-sided bout.

In the second period Haji attacked right from the start and twice earned two points to take the lead of 1-8. At this Bajrang put his best effort to get two points and the score reads 3-8, Haji gets one more point. Last one second left and Haji was leading with 3-9, in all desperation, Bajrang tried to lift Haji and got 2 points but still behind 5-9 Bajrang attacked with full force but haji countered it and got two points to ensure a solid winning lead of 5-11. The last three seconds left and Bajrang alleged that Haji is pulling his dress, protest filed and after watching the replay,  rejected by judges and one point was awarded to Haji, who won the bout 12-5.

On Friday Bajrang started his campaign with a very tough fight,  defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev on points as at the end of six minutes both were leveled at 3-3, but Bajrang was declared the winner on the basis of a point-scoring move. In the quarter Final Bajrang pinned down Iran’s Morteza Ghiasi Cheka to the mat and won the bout by fall. Bajrang started the contest on the back foot as he conceded a shot clock for passivity and gave one point to Morteza Ghiasi Cheka. The first round ended, Bajrang trailed 0-1. The second round was quite different as both wrestlers were going for it and it was the Iranian who caught Bajrang in a leg hold. The Indian however defended the position brilliantly and then received a second warning for passivity. With 90 seconds to go, Bajrang then turned up the ante and pinned down his opponent in a matter of seconds, winning the bout by fall.