Bajrang loses to Aliev, to fight for bronze
Bajrang Punia’s perennial efence weakness came to t him at the big stage as he the men’s freestyle 65kg final to three-time world pion Haji Aliev here on Friand he will now fight for ze medal at the Olympic es. o Olympics bronze-winner of Azerbaijan consistently ked Bajrang’s legs and twice imself into position from re he could roll the Indian fortably for easy two-point ws. ailing 1-4 after the first d, Bajrang looked for a big k but Aliev very smartly ted a counter take down, ng his shoulder close to the s of Bajrang and threw the n for a huge 8-1 lead. e Azerbaijani was losing m and Bajrang got two takens to reduce the deficit but required big move never e. Under 30 seconds left in bout, Bajrang desperately ed for an attack but Aliev did et him do that by gripping in strong body-lock. dejected and helpless Bajfell on the mat, aware that ad lost battle to a superior tler. jrang will now fight for ze. If he manages to win, will match its best result at lympics. Sushil Kumar and shwar Dutt had won a silver a bronze at the 2012 London es. Ravi Dahiya on Thursad won a silver in the 57kg. jrang began the day by edgpast Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar ataliev and then pinned s Morteza Cheka Ghiasi to h the semifinals. Bajrang ed the Iranian for a major of the bout after being rely crippled by Ghiasi’s nsive tactics, especially the -locks. wice, Bajrang was put on ity clock and also left to nd his right leg when Ghiasi hold of it. As the second d moved towards the final ute, Ghiasi looked like makdangerous move when he hold of Bajrang’s right leg almost pulled off a take n. Bajrang not only wriggled f that clutch, but also locked neck of Ghiasi and moved a position from where he ed his rival, pushed him on mat and held him with his ense strength to emerge vicus by fall. st before the end of the first period, Bajrang was 3-1 ahead but Akmataliev ran the Indian close in the second period, getting two push-out points to level the scores.
Since Bajrang had the high scoring move, a two-pointer take down, he was declared winner on criteria. It was not the most clean and fluent victories that he is known for, but was just enough for Bajrang, who came into the Games after suffering a minor knee injury during a local Russian tournament.
Debutant Indian wrestler Seema Bisla could not find a way to get out of the defensive trap of Tunisia’s Sarra Hamdi and lost her 50kg opening round 1-3.
The 27-year-old could not make her moves as Hamdi applied the body lock to great effect, never allowing Seema to initiate a strong attack.
There were hardly any moves in the bout with Hamdi getting two of her three points on push out and one on Seema’s passivity.
“chora abhi jawan hai, gold bhi lavega (the boy is still young, he will bring gold too). Our village is a nursery of wrestlers. Ravi’s medal will inspire youth to take up the sport. I want dozens of wrestlers from Nahri to bring medals for the country. I hope the government provides a new hospital and potable water to all houses in acknowledgement