India’s Bajrang Punia suffered a huge setback as he lost to Aliyev Haji of Azerbaijan, the bronze medallist in 57kg at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, as he went down 12-5 on points and will now have to fight for the bronze medal on Saturday.
Bajrang, who had survived a scare in the pre-quarterfinals against Akmataliev Ernazar of Kyrgyzstan and had outplayed Ghiasi Cheka Morteza of Iran in the semifinals, went behind 1-4 on points in the first period and then came under repeated attacks from the Azerbaijani in the second to lose by a big margin.
Aliyev of Azerbaijan consistently attacked Bajrang’s legs and twice got himself into position from where he could roll the Indian comfortably for easy two-point throws. Trailing 1-4 after the first period, Bajrang looked for a big attack but Aliev very smartly effected a counter takedown, placing his shoulder close to the thighs of Bajrang and threw the Indian for a huge 8-1 lead.
Bajrang did fight back in the second period by claiming four points but the Azerbaijani grappler proved too strong with late attacks.
The Azerbaijani was losing steam and Bajrang got two take-downs to reduce the deficit but the required big move never came. With 30 seconds left in the bout, Bajrang desperately looked for an attack but Aliyev did not let him do that by gripping him in a strong body lock.
A dejected and helpless Bajrang fell on the mat, aware that he had lost the battle to a superior wrestler.
Bajrang will face the winner of the repechage rounds in the bronze-medal match on Saturday.
Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt had won a silver and a bronze at the 2012 London Games.