Tokyo Olympics Wrestling: Deepak Punia loses semis, to battle for bronze now

Indian wrestler Deepak Punia failed to emulate his countrymate Ravi Kumar Dahiya and lost his 86kg category semifinal to American wrestler David Morris Taylor III at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday (August 4). Punia will now compete in the bronze medal match on Thursday (August 5) evening.

Taylor comprehensively thrashed Punia in the semifinals, emerging victorious with a 10-0 margin inside the first period. It was always going to be a herculean task for Deepak to trouble the American, the 2018 world champion and the reigning Pan-American champion.

It was hardly a contest as Taylor effected one move after another to win by technical superiority in the first period itself. Deepak could make only one move on counter attack but the American did not give the Indian any chance to convert that into points.

.@deepakpunia86 goes down to #USA David Morris Taylor III in the semifinal of the Men's freestyle 86 Kg.

To play for Bronze tomorrow, 5 August #Wrestling#Tokyo2020 #Olympics#Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/GkGFReG3YS — SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) August 4, 2021

Earlier, Punia showed no signs of the niggle that had forced him to pull out of the Poland Open Ranking Series in Warsaw in June, as he defeated China’s Lin Zushen 6-3 in the quarterfinals to set up a last-four clash with former world champion David Morris of the USA.

Punia, silver medallist at the 2019 world championships, was staring at an early exit but the 22-year-old managed a two-point takedown in the final 10 seconds of his bout against the Chinese to keep his Tokyo medal hopes alive.

Though the Chinese coach challenged the validity of the move, the decision to award Punia the bout was upheld. In the Round-of-16 bout Punia had beaten Nigeria`s Ekerekeme Agiomor 12-1 on technical superiority to secure a quarterfinal berth.

(with PTI inputs)