Tokyo Olympics: Bajrang Punia loses semifinal to Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan

Star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia lost his semifinal bout against reigning Olympic medalist and three time World Champion Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan in Semifinal. Bajrang will contest for the bronze on Saturday.

Tokyo: Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia faced a crushing defeat in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics at the hands of Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the men's freestyle 65kg event on Friday. Aliyev defeated Bajrang 12-5 as the former dominated proceedings from the word go. The Indian grappler will now play the bronze medal match on Saturday.

The Indian grappler might have started the game on a high, but Aliyev's two-point move gave him a 2-1 lead against Bajrang. He further extended his lead as he took the scoreline to 4-1 with the same set of moves over Bajrang. After the first period, Bajrang trailed 1-4 against Aliyev.

In the second essay, Aliyev came all guns blazing as he went on a point-scoring spree taking the lead of 8-1. Bajrang came back strong and hard registering four points but the Azerbaijani wrestler kept on extending the lead as he went from 9-5 to 12-5 within seconds.

Earlier in the day, Bajrang won both games comprehensively. Begining his Tokyo 2020 campaign, Bajrang first defeated Ernazar Akmataliev of Kyrgyzstan in the 1/8 Final and then beat Iran's Morteza Ghiasi Cheka by pinning him down to the mat (victory by fall) in the 1/4 Final.

ANI