Reigning junior world champion Deepak Punia on Saturday became fourth Indian to qualify for Tokyo Olympics after moving to 86kg semifinals at World Wrestling Championship here on Saturday. Competing in his maiden senior World Championship, Deepak locked quota after prevailing 7-6 in a tense semifinal against Colombia's Carlos Arturo Mendez.       

Changing  game last minute

With one minute to go, he was trailing 3-6 but pulled off a takedown and n expose move to take a 7-6 le in dying moments of tense bout. He will w clash with Switzerland's Stefan Reichmuth for a place in gold medal match.

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Rahul Aware qualifies for semis

Also doing a commendable job was Rahul Aware, who has moved to semifinals in 61kg n-Olympic category. Both Deepak and Rahul overcame rough Kazakh wrestlers en route semifinals. Vinesh Phogat, Deepak Punia and Ravi Dahiya have alrey qualified for 2020 Olympics with bronze medals.

However, Jitender (79kg) lost his quarterfinal while Mausam Khatri lost his first round in 97kg to reigning Olympic champion Kyle Frederick Snyder. Deepak h bumped into home wrestler ilet Davlumbayev in his opening round and looked a bit nervous before bout, probably fearing partiality. However, he played very smartly to defeat home favourite despite trailing 0-5.

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Davlumbayev was playing rough and was cautioned for poking Deepak. Consecutive takedown moves and a caution point brought Deepak on even terms at 5-5. He converted an opportunity but also conceded a throw and it was 7-7. home camp challenged call and lost. Deepak got one more point while Kazakh lost one, sending Deepak into next round. He was hardly troubled by Tajikistan's Bakhodur Kodirov, who he beat 6-0 to move to quarterfinals.

In 61kg, Rahul Aware played his pre-quarterfinal against Turkmenistan's Kerim Hojakov. diminutive agile wrestler from Maharashtra was in complete control of bout, which he ended with leg lace moves, winning by technical superiority.  

Against Kazakhstan's Rassul Kaliyev, it was a very tough bout but Indian showed more craft than his rough opponent and won 10-7 in a roller-coaster quarterfinal. He was technically more sound and sharp. Jitender began with an easy 7-2 win over Molodova's Gheorghi Pascalov.

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In pre-quarterfinals, he was up against Turkey's Muhammet Nuri Kotaglu, European Championship bronze medallist and again his immense upper body strength helped him to a 7-2 win. However, he could t find a way to break solid defence of Slovakia's Taimuraz Salkazav, losing 0-4. In 97kg, Mausam Khatri was match to American, losing by technical superiority. 

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