Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Bajrang Punia's loss to Haji Aliyev in semis will see him fight for BRONZE

World No. 2 seed Bajrang Punia lost to reigning Olympics medalist Azerbaijan's Haji Aliyev in the last four at Makuhari Messe Hall A. 

Haji, in the first round, took lead. Despite getting the passivity charge, Haji was back on the attack and took Bajrang down superbly. 4-1. The second round saw Haji add 4 more points to make it 8 as he rolled Bajrang around.

Bajrang had 5 points, but Haji's 12 points saw him enter the final. Bajrang will play for the bronze tomorrow (August 7).

#IND @BajrangPunia goes down 5-12 to #AZE Haji Aliyev in Men's Freestyle 65kg semifinal. He will now play for the #Bronze at #Tokyo2020 tomorrow, 7 Aug.

Stay tuned for more updates on #IndiaAtOlympics. pic.twitter.com/FiLYSKSqvn

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) August 6, 2021

Earlier Bajrang was declared the winner by fall against Iran's Mortaza Ghiasi Cheka in the quarter-final bout. Bajrang defeated Morteza by pinning him down to the mat (victory by fall) in the 1/4 Final.

Ghiasi had a hold on Bajrang's 'injured' knee, but the Indian did even better to defend. Punia did look uncomfortable, but then made a stunning takedown and pinned his opponent. 

Punia had also won against Ernaaz Akmataliev and progressed to the quarter-finals at Makuhari Messe Hall A.

The score was 0-0 at the start of the first bout but the Kyrgyzstani wrestler was given a passivity charge but he could not, and that was 1-0 for Bajrang.

Ernaaz however, pushed Bajrang out of bounds and made it 1-1. Right at the dying seconds of round 1, Bajrang took Ernaaz down superbly and lead 3-1.

The second round saw Ernaaz charge at Punia and push him out of the mat twice to make the score 3-3 with 7.9 seconds left. However, Bajrang still won because of his two-point move.

Earlier today Indian wrestler Seema Bisla lost to Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi in the Women's Freestyle 50kg, 1/8 Final, on Friday. Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi edged Seema 3-1 to cruise into the quarter-finals. 

Earlier on Thursday, Ravi Dahiya settled for silver after going down against the Russian Olympic Committee`s (ROC) Zavur Uguev in the men's 57 kg freestyle category at the Tokyo Olympics.