Tokyo Olympics 2020 Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliev 65kg freestyle semifinal match: Famous wrestler Bajrang Punia has advanced to the semifinals of Men's 65kg freestyle wrestling event at Tokyo Olympics and will face Haji Aliyev for a spot in the gold medal bout.  Earlier Today, Bajrang Punia put his tactical acumen and strength to good use in the second period to pin Iran’s Morteza Cheka Ghiasi for a semifinal berth in the men’s free-style 65kg event, which took him closer to an Olympic medal on debut, on Friday (August 6).

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Bajrang trailed the Iranian for a major part of the bout after being severely crippled by Ghiasi's defensive tactics, especially the body locks. Twice Bajrang was put on the activity clock and also left to defend his right leg when Ghiasi got hold of it. As the second period moved towards the final minute, Ghiasi looked like making a dangerous move when he got hold of Bajrang's right leg and almost pulled off a take down.

But Bajrang not only wriggled out of that clutch, he locked the neck of Ghiasi and moved into a position from where he turned his rival, pushed him on the mat and held him with his immense strength to emerge victorious by fall.

The bout is scheduled for 2:50 PM IST on Friday, August 6. Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the Tokyo Olympics in India. The bouts can be watched at Sony Ten 1 SD/HD channels. Apart from that Indians can also watch it on the DD National channel. The Tokyo Olympics men’s freestyle 65 kg wrestling semi-final bout can be live-streamed through the Sony LIV app.

Earlier on Friday, Punia had survived a scare to overcome Kyrgyzstan's Ernazar Akmataliev in the opening Round-of-16 bout to set up a quarterfinal clash against Ghiasi.

Punia, 27, who is making his Olympic debut, earned his first point after a passivity penalty on his Kyrgyzstan opponent, Akmataliev.

Akmataliev levelled the score with a push-out but in the final moments of the first period, Punia surged ahead 3-1 with a takedown.

Early in the second period, Punia looked the more aggressive of the two grapplers but Akmataliev held his ground with a tight defence. Towards the end, though, the Kyrgyzstan wrestler made his move and scored back-to-back pushouts to level the score at 3-3. Punia defended with all his might in the final seconds of the bout to not concede a point.