Asian Wrestling Championships: Bajrang Punia faces Takuto Otoguro in rematch of 2018 final

Indian wrestlers continued to dominate the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championship as on the fifth day four of the five wrestlers from India secured their place in the finals. India’s Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Ravi Kumar (57 kg), Gaurav (79 kg) and Satyavrat Kadayan (97 kg) reached the final in the men’s freestyle category at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday while Naveen will battle for the bronze medal.

Commonwealth Games gold medalists Bajrang Punia made it to the final of the Asian Wrestling Championships being played at KD Jadhav Hall of Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Saturday with his dominant performance in the 65 kg weight category. Bajrang was able to depict his dominance as he defeated three of his opponents on the basis of technical efficiency.

Asian Games gold medalist Bajrang first outplayed Tajikstan’s Dzamshed Sharifov 11-0 in the first match. He then defeated Abbos Rakhmonov of Uzbekistan 12–2 in the quarter-finals. Bajrang then outsmarted Iran’s junior world champion Amirhossein Magshoudi with a score of 10-0 to advance into the final where he faces Japan’s Takuto Otoguro. The final is also being seen as s rematch of the 2018 World Championships final.

At the same time, Ravi defeated Yuki Takashi of Japan 14-5 in the first match of 57 kg. In the next match, the Indian wrestler defeated Tugs Batjargal of Mongolia 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals. Here, he defeated Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan, the bronze medalist of the World Championships, 7-2 to take on Hikmatullo Vohidov of Tajikistan in the gold medal match.

Apart from Bajrang and Ravi, Satyavrat Kadayan (97 kg weight) and Gaurav Balyan (79 kg weight category) have confirmed silver medals. Satyvrat defeated Jordan’s Zaid Shishani and Tajikistan’s Rustam Iskandari by a similar scoreline of 10-0 to book summit clash with Mohammadshafie Goleij of Iran.

Gaurav Baliyan registered a 3-1 victory over Mongolia’s Batzul Damjin and followed it up with a 6-5 victory over Japan’s Shinkichi Okui. He faces Kyrgyzstan’s Arsalan Budazhapov in the final.

Naveen lost in the semi-finals in the 70 kg category. He will now take on Marijan of Uzbekistan for the bronze medal.