Bajrang Punia on Saturday became the sixth wrestler in Indian history to win an Olympic medal after he won the bronze in men’s 65kg category of the 2020 Tokyo Games. Bajrang, who is the top-ranked wrestler in his weight category, defeated Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan 8-0 in the bronze medal clash held at the Makuhari Messe Hall.
Tokyo 2020 Full Coverage: Schedule | Results | Medals Tally
The 27-year-old was dominant from the word go and with a dominating performance, also took revenge of his defeat at the hands of Daulet in the semifinals of 2019 world championships.
With this medal, India’s tally has now grown to six and they have now equalled their best ever show at an Olympics, having won the same number of medals at the 2012 London Games.
Bajrang, a medal favourite, took on Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev in the pre-quarters and won despite the contest ending 3-all thanks to a high-scoring move. The scratchy start gave way to an impressive show in the quarter-finals where he pinned Morteza Cheka Ghiasi of Iran to punch his ticket for the semi-finals.
In the semis, he was against Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan who took the bronze in Rio 2016. Narsingh lost 5-12 despite his attempt at making a turnaround late into the second period.
A total of seven Indian wrestlers took part at 2020 Tokyo Games with three of them making it to the medals round while one making it to the final.
Two of them went on to win medals.
Ravi Dahiya settled for silver after losing his gold medal bout of 57kg category. On the other hand, Deepak Punia lost in the bronze medal match of the 85kg category.
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