World Wrestling C'ships: Bajrang Punia enters quarterfinal, Sakshi & Divya loses

The Indian took a 5-0 lead in the first round of the 65 kg bout while his opponent managed to pick up 2 points after the restart, but it was not enough to pull off a win against the Indian grappler.

Playing later in the day, Bajrang defeated David Habat of Slovakia 3-0 in the pre-quarters and entered into the quarterfinals. He will earn an Olympic 2020 qualification if he manages to pull off another win in the day.

In another match, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik lost to Nigerian grappler Aminat Oluwafunmilayo Adeniyi 7-10  in 1st round (62 kg).

Malik conceded a 6-0 lead in the first round. She managed to make a comeback in the second round, but it was not enough for her to pull off a comeback win.

Sakshi, however, isn’t out of the tournament yet. If Aminat Oluwafunmilayo Adeniyi reaches the gold medal match then Sakshi has a shot at the Bronze medal through the Repechage rounds.

Meanwhile,  Asian Games bronze medallist Divya Kakran (68kg) went down 0-2 in a completely one-sided opening bout against reigning Olympic and former world champion Sara Dosho of Japan. However, Kakran still has a chance of entering the repechage round if her opponent makes it to the final.

Ravi Kumar pulled off a 11-0 win over Korea’s Sunggwon Kim via technical superiority in Men’s 57 kg category.