Indian wrestlers Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Deepak Punia reach semi-finals at Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo: India did not have the best of starts to their wrestling campaign at the Tokyo Olympics as Sonam Malik bowed out in the opening round of the Women’s 62kg freestyle. However, the wrestlers bounced back with two of India’s medal hopes putting on a show on Wednesday at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Tokyo.

India’s Ravi Kumr Dahiya, the Asian Championships gold medal winner, reached the semi-final of Men’s Freestyle 57kg. The 4th seed was in dominant form as he brushed aside Oscar Tigregos in the Round of 16 via technical superiority.

Ravi Kumar started slow but managed to take a 3-2 lead at the end of the first round. However, he dominated Tigregos in the 2nd round, clinching 8 points without a reply from his Colombian opponent.

Ravi Kumar then defeated Bulgaria’s Vangelov Valentinov 14-4 via technical superiority to reach the semi-final of the 57kg category and brighten up India’s hopes of a medal. Ravi Kumar will be in action later in the day in his semi-final bout.

He will be assured of a medal if he reaches the final, but Ravi can win the bronze even if he loses the semi-final. Ravi will meet a repechage winner in the semi-final, in case things don’t go his way in the last-four bout on Wednesday.

Men's 57kg Freestyle Semi-final

Ravi Kumar (4) vs Sanayev Nurislam (Kazakhstan) - 2:45 pm IST (Approx)

Men's 86kg Freestyle Semi-final

Deepak Punia (2) vs Taylor David Morris (USA) - 3:06 pm iST.

Deepak Punia storms into the semi-final, wins thriller vs China's Lin

Meanwhile, world championship silver medalist and No. 3 seed, Deepak Punia reached the semi-final of Men's 86kg Freestyle, beating China's Zushen Lin 6-3. Deepak was in a spot of bother when he was level on points 3-3 with less than a minute to go on the clock.

Zushen would have won the bout had it remained 3-3 as he made the last scoring move. However, Deepak showed plenty of guts as he went for the Chinese wrestler's leg in the last 30 seconds and secured a touchdown in a dramatic fashion to win the bout.

Zushen came up with a challenge but it was not awarded and Deepak finished with an extra point.

When Deepak made a strong start

Earlier in the day, Deepak Punia showed no signs of rustiness as he hammered Nigeria’s Agiomor Ekerekeme 12-1.

Ravi Kumar had withdrawn from a training-cum-competition event in Poland with an injury scare in the lead up to the Olympics but the 22-year-old from Haryana looked sharp in his opening round against Ekerekeme.

A couple of year ago, the Haryana wrestler has bagged gold in the 86kg category and ended India’s 18-year-old wait at the Junior World Wrestling Championship held in Tallinn, Estonia. He followed it with an impressive silver medal at the World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

It has been a steady progress for Deepak, who won the World Cadet title in 2016.

Anshu loses opening bout

There was disappointment for 19-year-old Anshu Mailk, who had headed to the Olympics after winning the Asian Championships gold earlier this year. She lost to Iryna Kurachkina, the 3rd seed from Belarus, 2-8 in the Round of 16.

Anshu’s hopes of finishing on the podium rest on Kurachkina, as the Indian teenager will be hoping the Belarusian reaches the final and gives her a repechage opportunity.