Indian
wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya defeated Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov to enter the
semi-finals of the men’s 57kg freestyle event at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics on
Wednesday. At his dominant best, Dahiya won both his bouts today on technical
superiority to set up a semi-final encounter with Kazakhstan’s Nurislam
Sanayev.

The
23-year-old defeated Colombia’s Tigreros Urbano in the pre-quarters earlier
today.

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Fourth seed
Dahiya was dominant in the technical superiority win against Urbano, consistently
attacking the Colombian’s legs. His only major setback was conceding a
take-down in the first period. The reigning Asian champion, won 13-2 with one
minute and 10 seconds to spare.

Dahiya
completed five take-downs on his opponent in the second period to breeze into
the quarters, where he defeated Vangelov 14-4. Dahiya stuck to his strategy of double
leg attacks against the Bulgarian, reaping the rewards of a semi-final place.

Meanwhile,
Deepak Punia also stormed into the semifinals, after pulling off a decisive
two-pointer in the dying embers of his last-eight clash against China’s Zushen
Lin. He opened with a 3-1 lead but Lin completed a takedown to level the scores
at 3-3.

With just 10
seconds remaining in the bout and the Chinese leading on criteria, Deepak
managed to get under Lin and pulled both his legs in the air with a strong
grip, throwing him for two crucial points and qualification to the semi-finals.

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He will
take on American David Morris Taylor.

However,
Anshu Malik failed to progress past to the quarter finals of the women’s
freestyle event, losing to Belarusian Irina Kurachikina. Malik rallied back
after conceding a 0-4 lead but could not muster a comeback.

She
conceded points on the counter attack with the 2018 European champion relying
on her experience to win the bout. Anshu’s hopes of winning a medal now rests on
Kurachikina’s progress. If the Belarusian reaches the final, Malik will have a
chance in the repechage round.