India's Bajrang Punia suffered a huge setback as he lost to Aliyev Haji of Azerbaijan, the bronze medallist in 57kg at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, as he went down 12-5 on points and will now have to fight for the bronze medal on Saturday.
Bajrang, who had survived a scare in the pre-quarterfinals against Akmataliev Ernazar of Kyrgyzstan and had outplayed Ghiasi Cheka Morteza of Iran in the semifinals, went behind 1-4 on points in the first period and then came under repeated attacks from the Azerbaijani in the second to lose by a big margin.
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Bajrang did fight back in the second period by claiming four points but the Azerbaijani grappler proved too strong with late attacks.
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Bajrang will face the winner of the repechage rounds in the bronze-medal match on Saturday.
