Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia, both move to the semi-finals of their respective weight categories.
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With an impeccable start for both male wrestlers of India, Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia have advanced to the semi-finals of their respective categories. At the Tokyo Olympics, Ravi Dahiya was going against Bulagria’s Georgi Valentilov Vangelov. As anticipated, the match was a rather tough won as both the players had easy wins in their previous rounds.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya went against Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov in the men’s freestyle 57kg quarter-final. Vangelov is a 2016 European Championships bronze medallist. Ravi, on the other hand, won a bronze medal at the Individual Wrestling World Cup in Belgrade, 2020. Both of these wrestlers are elite athletes. The contest became as tactical as it could get, as both opponents relied on their respective techniques. Dahiya scored the first blood, and won two points– it’s 2-0.
Ravi continued his domination and gained two more points. He has a 4-0 lead now. Within a few seconds, and with a blink of an eye, Ravi floored his opponent again and took a 6-0 lead. By the end of the first half, Ravi had a lead of 6-2 versus Vangelov.
By the end of the second round, Ravi won on technical superiority as he beat Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov 14-4 in the men’s freestyle 57kg quarter-final. He will take on Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-finals later in the day.
India’s Deepak Punia took on Zushen Lin of China for a place in the Men’s Freestyle semi-finals.
Zushen Lin of China started the match by taking a point against Deepak Punia. He was pushed out of the circle but the Indian immediately responded by getting 2 points. Punia slammed his opponent face-first on the mat.
Punia conceded two points as he went down on the mat, and he could have lost many points on account of countback rule. The match turned into a nailbiter as Punia won more points with a few seconds remaining on the clock. However, that was challenged by the Chinese who ended up losing. With the result India got another point, and Punia has moved on to the Men’s Freestyle Semi-finals.
Some more good news for India as Anshu Malik’s first-round opponent Iryna Kurachkina has reached the semifinals of the Women’s 57kg Freestyle event. This only means that Anshu is still in fray for repechage.
