Tokyo Olympics: Indian wrestlers Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia storm into semis

Tokyo - Fourth-seeded Ravi defeated Bulgaria's Georgi Valentinov Vangelov 14-4

Indian wrestlers Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57 kg) and Deepak Punia (86 kg) stormed into the semifinals of their respective men’s freestyle categories at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.

Fourth-seeded Ravi defeated Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov 14-4.

Meanwhile, Deepak Punia defeated China’s Zushen Lin 6-3 in a hard-fought contest at the Makuhari Messe Hall A on Wednesday.

Punia got into a very cagey start against the Chinese wrestler in the 86kg section. The first half saw the Indian take a 1-0 lead.

Coming into the second half, Punia put his foot on the accelerator to score five points while the Chinese wrestler scored only three points.

In the 56kg category quarterfinal clash, Ravi comfortably overcame the challenge of Georgi Valentinov. The 23-year-old Indian drew the first blood by snatching six points.

Coming into the second half, Ravi, bronze medallist at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships, faced a good challenge from Valentinov as he took four points.

But Ravi gave no chance to Georgi and dominated proceedings with some solid attacks.