Nur Sultan (Kazakhstan): Bajrang Punia lost his semi-final bout against home wrestler Daulet Niyazbekov under controversial circumstances after sealing his Tokyo Olympics quota along with Ravi Dahiya, who made his presence felt in a star-studded field at the World Wrestling Championships here yesterday.Bajrang's coach Shako Benitidis kicked the coach's block in anger as the 65kg bout ended 9-9 after a nerve-wracking six minutes. Since Niyazbekov had a bigger throw of four points in the bout, he was declared the winner.

In the fiercely-fought contest, the referee gave ample time to a tiring Niyazbekov to catch his breath and he was not given a caution at least thrice. Instead Niyazbekov was awarded four points when it was Bajrang, who effected a throw at the edge of the circle. "I challenged it and they should have given at least two points to Bajrang for that hold," said coach Benitidis. Several times, Bajrang raised his hands in frustration but to no avail. The last edition's silver medal-winning Indian will fight for the bronze today. "It was clear that the mat chairman favoured the home wrestler," said a coach, who did not wish to be named.