Tokyo Olympics 2020: Wrestlers Deepak Punia, Ravi Dahiya book semi finals berth

The Indian contingent had a good start in Wrestling as Deepak Punia and Ravi Dahiya won their respective matches to book a place for themselves in the semifinals. Ravi Kumar Dahiya won in the 57 kg category whereas Deepak Punia clinched a win in the 86 kg category at the Makuhari Messe on Wednesday.

On the opening day of the Men’s Wrestling event, Dahiya defeated Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov 14-4 on technical superiority to reach the final four in the men’s 57kg category, whereas Deepak Punia overcame China’s Zushen Lin 6-3 on points to advance to the semifinals. In fact, Punia secured his points in the dying seconds of the game as the match was tied at 3-3 but the Indian wrestler was able to turn the tables.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya will face Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan whereas Deepak Punia will take on America’s David Morris Taylor in the semifinals of their respective categories. There are a lot of expectations from the Wrestling team to bag a medal at the Tokyo Olympics and both Punia and Dahiya have started India’s campaign on a positive note.

Earlier, on Tuesday, India’s Sonam Malik lost to Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu in the 62 kg category despite leading through the game. Malik was up by 2-0 but the Mongolian wrestler bounced back in the last 30 seconds of the match to win by 2-2 as she got two points.

Meanwhile, Dahiya had won his opening-round fight by technical superiority against Colombia’s Oscar Tigreros to secure a quarterfinal spot. Dahiya, who is 23-years old and is playing his maiden Olympics, took a lead of 13-2 and dominated the contest from the word go. If a wrestler achieves a 10-point lead, he wins by technical superiority.