India star wrestler Bajrang Punia lost in the quarterfinals of the Wrestling World Championships on Saturday but returned into medal contention. He entered the repechage round of the 65 Kg category.
Bajrang, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion lost to USA's 23-year-old Yianni Diakomihalis in the 65kg quarterfinal bout. He suffered the defeat by 10-0 due to technical superiority.
However, the 28-year-old became active again as he entered the repechage round after Diakomihalis reached the final.
Bajrang will take on the winner of the bout between Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia and Bulgaria's Vladimir Vladimirov Dubov in his first repechage bout on Sunday.
Earlier, Bajrang had defeated Cuba's Alejandro Enrique Valdes Tobier on points in the pre-quarterfinals.
Bajrang has three World Championship medals to his name. He won a silver medal at the 2018 edition of the tournament in Budapest. He bagged bronze medals in the years 2013 and 2019, respectively.
On the other hand, Sagar Jaglan's quest for a bronze medal in 74kg ended as the 18-year-old lost to reigning Asian Champion Yones Aliakbar Emami of Iran 6-0.
The World under-20 bronze medallist had earlier defeated Suldkhuu Olonbayar of Mongolia 7-3 to move to the bronze medal bout.
He had entered the repechage on Friday after suffering a quarterfinal defeat to three-time world champion winner Kyle Dake of the USA.
Indian wrestlers have been disappointed in this edition of the World Championships with only Vinesh Phogat winning a bronze medal so far.
