Bajrang Punia lost to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev 5-12 in the men's 65kg freestyle semifinal bout at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
Aliev is three-time world champion and bronze-winner from the Rio Games. Bajrang will now play for the bronze. Trailing 1-4 after the first period, Bajrang looked for a big attack but Aliev very smartly effected a counter take down, placing his shoulder close to the thighs of Bajrang and threw the Indian for a huge 8-1 lead.
The Azerbaijani was losing steam and Bajrang got two take-downs to reduce the deficit but the required big move never came. Under 30 seconds left in the bout, Bajrang desperately looked for an attack but Aliev did not let him do that by gripping him in strong body-lock.
Bajrang, who came into the Games after suffering a minor knee injury during a local Russian tournament, has put up a good fight. Earlier on Friday, Bajrang qualified for the semifinal by defeating Morteza Ghiasi Cheka of Iran in the quarterfinal of the men's 65kg freestyle category. While the Iranian took an early lead, Punia regained control to be ahead 2-1, before pinning him successfully to win by fall.
-with PTI inputs