Tokyo 2020, Wrestling: Bajrang Punia reaches semi-final as Seema Bisla bows out

Tokyo, August 6: Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia reached the semi-final in men's freestyle 65kg category at the Tokyo Olympics after a fall victory against Iran's Morteza Ghiasi on Friday (August 6).

The second seeded Indian defeated Ghiasi by pinning him down to the mat (victory by fall) in the 1/4 Final on Mat A at the Makuhari Messe Hall A in Tokyo.

Bajrang started the cagey contest on the back foot as he conceded a point after he failed to score one himself during the activity time and went into the second period trailing 0-1.

There was no respite even in the second half for Bajrang as the referee again charged the Indian for passivity but this time the 27-year-old held his nerve and showed his class to defend brilliantly and scored a two point move.

And in the end, Punia prevailed after he pinned Ghiasi to move into the next round, where he will now face the reigning Olympics medalist Azerbaijan's Haji Aliyev in the last four.

Earlier in the 1/4 Fina, Bajrang defeated Kyrgyzstan's Ernazar Akmataliev via separation criteria (higher point-scoring move, a 2-pointer in the first period) after the 1/8 Final bout ended at 3-3.

Bajrang started the match very aggressively but Kyrgyzstan's grappler defended well with his upper body strength. Soon, the referee took notice of Akmataliev's passivity and incurred a activity clock against him which gave Bajrang his first point of the bout.

Ernazar soon pegged one back against Indian via a push out and levelled the scores at 1-1. In the dying seconds of the first half, Bajrang took the benefit of a leg slip from the Kyrgyzstan wrestler and pounced to achieve the two points takedown.

The 27-year-old Indian star gathered another point in the second period but Akmataliev came back with force as he threw Bajrang out of the mat two times to level the bout in the dying seconds of the match. With seconds left on the clock, Bajrang defended well to move into the next round.

Earlier on Friday (August 6), Seema Bisla bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics after defeat to Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi in the Women's Freestyle 50kg, 1/8 Final.

Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi edged Seema 3-1 to cruise into the quarter-finals on Mat B at Makuhari Messe Hall A.

The 29-year-old Indian started the cagey match on a not-so-good note as she could not score points during activity time, giving the Tunisian a point and 1-0 lead going into the second period of the bout.

In the second period, Sarra struck again after pushing the Indian out of the mat. But soon after sustaining the second shot clock of the match, Seema earned her first point of the match by pushing Tunisian out of the mat.

In the last 20 seconds of the bout, Seema charged against Hamdi but it was the Tunisian who prevailed as the referee gave another point in favour of Tunisian.

Earlier on Thursday (August 5), Ravi Kumar Dahiya settled for silver after going down against the Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) Zavur Uguev in the men's 57 kg freestyle category, while Deepak Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik faced defeats.