Tokyo Olympics wrestling: Flawless Bajrang Punia wins historic bronze medal

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia wins Tokyo Olympics bronze medal in 65kg category with comfortable win.

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia was in action in 65kg category bronze medal match at Tokyo Olympics. (Photo: PTI)

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia became just the fifth Indian wrestler to win an Olympic bronze medal, defeating Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan 8-0 in the bronze medal contest for 65kg category at Tokyo Olympics. Bajrang emulated KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt and Sakshi Malik by winning bronze. Apart from this, Sushil (in 2012) and Ravi Dahiya (in 2020) have silver medals from wrestling in Olympics.

Bajrang managed to notch up two early points against the No. 3-seeded Kazakh grappler early in the first period and added four more points with a couple of moves with just over one minute left in the first period to extend his lead to six. With 20 seconds left in the period, two more points for Bajrang got him to touching distance of a technical superiority win. 

If his defence let him down in the semifinal against Hazi Aliev, Bajrang's smart attacking moves made him a 8-0 winner against Kazakhstan's Niyazbekov, to whom he had lost in the semifinals of the 2019 World Championship.

With Bajrang's medal, Indian wrestlers have matched their best performance at the Olympic Games. At the 2012 London Games, Sushil Kumar won a silver and Yogeshwar Dutt returned with a bronze. With his podium, India also equalled their best ever Olympic medal haul of six achieved in in the 2012 London edition.

Bajrang lost to Daulet in 2019 World Championships but got the better of him 2 months back. Niyazebekov is a 2019 World Championship silver medallist and 2018 Asian Champion as well. 

Bajrang takes home in his debut @Olympics

wrestler @BajrangPunia beats #KAZ D Niyazbekov 8-0 to win 's 6th Medal at #Tokyo2020

This equals India's best ever medal haul at a single Olympics equalling the 6 won in #London2012

We are proud of our champion!#Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/K4HV3ia3cg — SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) August 7, 2021

Earlier, Bajrang’s perennial leg-defence weakness came to haunt him at the big stage as he lost the men's freestyle 65kg semifinal to three-time world champion Haji Aliev on Friday. Rio Olympics bronze-winner Aliev of Azerbaijan consistently attacked Bajrang's legs and twice got himself into position from where he could roll the Indian comfortably for easy two-point throws.

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.

A dejected and helpless Bajrang fell on the mat, aware that he had lost battle to a superior wrestler. Bajrang will now fight for bronze. If he manages to win, India will match its best result at the Olympics. Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt had won a silver and a bronze at the 2012 London Games.

Ravi Dahiya on Thursday had won a silver in the 57kg. Bajrang began the day by edging past Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev and then pinned Iran’s Morteza Cheka Ghiasi to reach the semifinals.

Bajrang trailed the Iranian for a major part of the bout after being severely crippled by Ghiasi’s defensive tactics, especially the body-locks. Twice, Bajrang was put on activity clock and also left to defend his right leg when Ghiasi got hold of it.

As the second period moved towards the final minute, Ghiasi looked like making a dangerous move when he got hold of Bajrang’s right leg and almost pulled off a take down.

Bajrang not only wriggled out of that clutch, but also locked the neck of Ghiasi and moved into a position from where he turned his rival, pushed him on the mat and held him with his immense strength to emerge victorious by fall.