Olympics: Bajrang Punia reaches wrestling semifinal

India's good showing in wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics continued with Bajrang Punia defeating Morteza Ghiasi Cheka of Iran in the quarterfinal of the men's 65kg freestyle category on Friday.

While the Iranian took an early lead, Punia regained control to be ahead 2-1, before pinning him successfully to win by fall. Bajrang Punia's performance has brightened India's hopes of getting a sixth medal at the Olympics. His semifinal match is scheduled for 2.52pm (IST) on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Bajrang Punia had defeated Ernazar Akmataliev of Kyrgyzstan to enter the quarterfinal. Punia began the bout with an early lead before Akmataliev equalised by pushing Bajrang Punia out of the orange circle. At the break, Bajrang Punia earned a two-point lead to be ahead 3-1. Though Akmataliev made a comeback to equalise 3-3, Punia was declared the winner on criteria.

Women's category

However, Seema Bisla had a bad day, losing her opening bout. Bisla could not find a way to get out of the defensive trap of Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi and lost her opening round 1-3 in the women's 50kg category.

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.

Seema got on board when she too pushed her rival out after being put on the activity clock for a second time. Seema could have progressed via the Repêchage route if Hamdi reached the final. But Hamdi lost the quarterfinal to Azerbaijan's Mariya Stadnik.

The Rohtak grappler had not even won a national event till 2017 but went on to secure her berth for the Games by winning the World Olympic Qualifier, held in Sofia in May.