On Saturday (August 7), Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia defeated Niyazbekov Daulet of Kazakhstan in the men’s freestyle 65 kg match to clinch the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Punia won 2 technical points in the first period but later managed to win 6 points in the second period of the bout. His opponent Daulet failed to score even a single point against the Indian wrestler. With a score of 8-0 on the board, Punia was declared the winner on the basis of technical superiority. The 27-year-old hails from the Jhajjar district of Haryana and is the only Indian to win 3 medals at the World Wrestling Championships.
Bajrang Punia contested for the Bronze medal match after he lost the semi-final yesterday. He had lost to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev 5-12 in Men’s 65kg Freestyle semi-final on Friday. He had defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev and Iran’s Morteza Ghiasi to reach the semi-finals.
The bronze match was played at the Makuhari Messe Hall A. With Punis’s victory, India’s total medal tally has reached 6 i.e. equivalent to the medal tally at the 2012 London Olympics. At this point, India has 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. India is now hoping for a gold medal from Neeraj Chopra in the Men’s javelin throw final.
