With Khatri and Jitender not making it to the repechage rounds, India’s interest on the final day of competition will be restricted to Deepak Punia and Rahul Aware.

Punia will face Yazdani in the 86kg final while Aware’s challenger for the bronze medal match will be decided through the repechage round.

97kg update: Kyle Snyder cannot find a way past Sharifov in the semi-final and goes down 2-5. This means Mausam Khatri, who lost to Snyder, is officially knocked out of the tournament.

The only Indian to win a gold medal in the world champion is Sushil Kumar in the 66 kg category. Deepak Punia will have a chance to join the two-time Olympic medallist if he can beat Yazdani on Sunday.

86 kg semi-final: And Deepak Punia is going to fight for gold on Sunday. The second period has always been the 20-year-old’s strong point and he once again proves that as he scores a couple of takedowns to beat Stefan Reichmuth 8-2 to reach the final.

86 kg semi-final: None of the players were willing to give any opening to the other in this cagey first period. The officials give Stefan Reichmuth a shot clock and hand Deepak Punia a point after the Swiss wrestler fails to score a point in those 30 seconds.

79kg update: Jitender’s hopes for trying to clinch a medal through repechage are dashed as Taimuraz Salkazanov, who defeated him in the quarter-final, goes down 3-4 against Azerbaijan’s Jabrayil Hasanov (AZE) in the semi-finals.

61 kg semi-finals: Rahul Aware put up a brave fight in the second period. He pushed hard and closed the gap from 2-8 to 6-8 but Lomtadze took advantage of the Indian’s desperation to score two points on the counter and win 10-6.

Aware will now fight for a bronze medal on Sunday.

61 kg semi-finals: Lomtadze was just too quick and too strong for Aware in the first period. He first brought him down and then turned to take a 4-0 lead and then extended the advantage to 7-1 at the break.

A recap of the semi-final matches of the Indians

61kg: Rahul Aware vs Beko Lomtadze (Geo) – Mat C

86kg: Deepak Punia vs Stefan Reichmuth (SUI) – Mat C

4.08 pm: Its just about 5 minutes for the semi-finals to start. While Rahul Aware and Deepak Punia would be keen on securing their final berth and add to India’s medal tally, Jitendra and Mausam Khatri would also be keenly watching these matches as their repechage changes depend on the outcome of those matches.

3.30 pm: The semi-finals will start at 4.15 pm with Rahul Aware on Mat C

3.00 PM: All in all, a good session for the Indian wrestlers. While Deepak Punia booked his Tokyo Olympic berth in 86 kg weight category, Rahul Aware is also in the semi-final of the 61 kg category. Jitender narrowly lost his 79kg quarterfinal but can get into medal contention if Taimuraz Salkazanov manages to reach the final later in the day.

97kg update: Mausam Khatri’s chances of making it to the repechage round stay alive after Kyle Snyder, who defeated him, storms into the semi-final with a 13-3 technical superiority win over Magomed Ibragimov of Uzbekistan. He now needs to reach the final for Khatri to get entry into the repechage rounds.

Deepak Punia is a cadet world champ, a junior world champ and now he will travel to Tokyo for Olympics after qualifying from the World Championships, his first, informs Vinay Siwach from Nursultan.

Here is the semi-final line up for the Indians later in the day

61kg: Rahul Aware vs Beko Lomtadze (Geo)

86kg: Deepak Punia vs Stefan Reichmuth (SUI)

86kg quarterfinals: And that’s an OLYMPIC QUOTA for Deepak Punia. The junior world champion left it a tad late but turned things around in the last 30 seconds with a takedown of Carlos Mendez to win the quarter-final bout 7-6. It was a tight bout and could have gone either way. But Punia kept his cool under pressure and went for the kill when opportunity presented itself.

86kg quarterfinals: Deepak Punia’s attempted attack late in the first period turned out to be counter productive as the tall Carlos Mendez managed to turn the Indian around for two points. Punia trails 1-3 at the break.

79kg quarterfinals: Well it was not to be for Jitender. He tried his best and time and again attacked Taimuraz Salkazanov’s legs but the Slovakian was too strong in defence. Jitender loses 0-4. But he could have a shot at the medal if Salkazanov reaches the final later in the day.

79kg quarterfinals: Jitender is probably trailing in a bout for the first time today. But its just one take down behind at the halfway mark against Taimuraz Salkazanov of Slovakia. All to play for in the second period.

61kg, quarterfinals: Rahul Aware is in the SEMIFINALS. The bout was quite a close contest till Aware managed to explode and score four quick points with a throw. Kaliyev tried to fight back but it was too late. Aware won 10-7.

61kg, quarterfinals: Rassul Kaliyev was given a shot clock early in the first period and that meant that the Kazakshtan wrestler had to attack. Rahul Aware countered but it was the local favourite who ended up getting one point more. He leads 3-2 at the break.

86kg, Round of 16: Deepak Punia makes it three quarterfinalist for India. For his built, Deepak is extremely quick in wriggling out of any leg attack and he shows all those skills to beat Kodirov 6-0 and advance to the last eight round.

86kg, Round of 16: Deepak Punia has made a good start against Bakhodur Kodirov of Tajikistan. The junior world champion scored a takedown early and takes a 3-0 lead at the break after the first period.

79kg, Round of 16: Jitender books his place in the quarters now. The first period was very sedate with the Indian getting one point due to Muhameet Kotanoglu’s passivity. But in the second period, when Jitender was given a shot clock, he finally attacked and took the initiative to win 7-1

61kg, Round of 16: And Rahul Aware has reached the quarter-finals in style. Hojakov made a quick start to the second period with a two-point takedown but Aware scored a flurry of points with a takedown and then turning Hojakov with a leg grip, something Yogeshwar Dutt specialised in, to win the bout 13-2 on technical superiority.

61kg, Round of 16: Having opened his account with a passivity point, Rahul Aware scores four more in the last minute of the first period with a takedown and an exposure to lead Kerim Hojakov 5-0 at the break.

97kg, Round of 16: It just took Kyle Snyder one period to defeat Mausam Khatri 10-0 on technical superiority. The American was thorougly dominant and Khatri was probably lucky to take the match till the end of the first period. This is the first loss for Indian wreslters on the day.

86kg, Round of 32: Davlumbayev challenged those calls and acutally ended up losing a point for a throw while the Indian got another point for the lost challenge by his opponent. Punia then helds on to the lead to advance to the Round of 16 with a 8-6 victory.

86kg, Round of 32: It was a scramble at the edge of the mat and both Deepak and Davlumbayev get two points each.

86kg, Round of 32: Deepak Punia has levelled the scores on the counter after Davlumbayev went for another leg attack by the Indian did well to change direction and score a takedown.

86kg, Round of 32: It has been pretty aggressive wrestling in the first period by Davlumbayev and Deepak Punia. The Kazhak took a five point lead before Punia fought back with two points and a caution point later in the first period allows him to narrow the lead to 5-3 at the break.

86kg, Round of 32: Davlumbayev goes for an early leg attack and scored four points

12.15 pm: Deepak Punia will be next on Mat B after two more bouts in the 86kg weight category against home wrestler Adilet Davlumbayev. Before coming to Nur Sultan, the 20-year-old ended India’s 18 year wait for a Junior World Championship gold and will be keen to continue with his form in his first senior championship.

Here is how he won the junior world title despite being troubled by an injured shoulder.

79kg, qualification round: Jitender defended stoutly in the second period, now giving Pascalov any shot at scoring points and then scored two himself in the dying minutes of the second period to register a convincing 7-2 victory to reach the round of 16.

79kg, qualification round: Jitender went for a few quick shots against Pascalov. Though the Moldovian managed to turn one into his own advantage, the Indian wrestler was smart enough to wriggle out of his opponents grip and score points of his own. He leads 5-2 after the first period.

11.50 am: Jitender will be the first Indian on the mat on Saturday in the 79kg category after the ongoing bout on Mat B. He will take on Gheorghi Pascalov in the qualification round.

10.45 am: Meanwhile, Bajrang Punia is still unhappy about missing out on a gold or silver. He had won the silver in the last edition and looked good for gold before he suffered a reversal in the semi-finals which he lost on criteria after being tied 9-9.

10.40 am: Ravi Kumar Dahiya, along with Deepak Punia, have been touted as the future stars of Indian wrestling.

Dahiya proved his prowess on Friday by winning the bronze medal in his first senior world championship. Here is Vinay Siwach’s analysis on what to expect from the young wrestlers

https://scroll.in/field/937964/wrestling-confident-ravi-dahiya-assures-bright-future-after-winning-bronze-at-world-championships

10.30 am: While the wrestlers are getting ready for the penultimate day of competition, you can also warm up watching how Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya clinched their bronze medals on Friday.

https://scroll.in/field/938011/watch-how-bajrang-punia-ravi-kumar-dahiya-clinched-bronze-medals-at-wrestling-world-cships

Indians in action on Saturday

61kg, round of 16: Rahul Aware vs TBD

79kg, qualification: Jitender vs Gheorghi Pascalov (MDA)

86kg, round of 32: Deepak Punia vs Adilet Davlumbayev (KAZ)

97kg, round of 16: Mausam Khatri vs Kyle Snyder (USA)

India has had one of the most successful campaigns in the world wrestling championship since 2003 by winning three medals in the same edition. All three have been bronze medals with Vinesh Phogat opening the tally and Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya adding to the list on Friday.

With the last group of four weight categories set to kick off on the penultimate day of competition at Nur Sultan on Saturday, all eyes will be on Deepak Punia (86 kg) and Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Indian wrestlers will look to seal two more Tokyo Olympic berths.

Punia has already been touted as a medal hopeful in Nur Sultan and our wrestling expert Vinay Siwach believes that he should achieve that goal if he wins the opening bout against local favourite Adilet Davlumbayev.

Among the other two wrestlers in fray, Rahul Aware (61 kg) will start his campaign in the Round of 16 while Jitender will take on Gheorghi Pascalov in the qualification round.