Deepak Punia loses to idol, settles for silver medal

Hangzhou, October 7

Hasan Yazdani expectedly proved too good for Deepak Punia, who settled for the silver medal after losing by technical superiority to the Iranian legend in the men’s 86kg category, as India’s wrestling campaign concluded at the Asian Games with six medals but without a gold.

It was the second time that Deepak found himself up against his childhood idol Yazdani, the two-time Olympics medallist and eight-time World Championships medallist.

In the 2019 World Championships, Deepak had reached the final on debut but did not wrestle against the Iranian due to a foot injury and conceded the bout, settling for the silver.

The 24-year-old Deepak, known as ‘Ketli Pehalwan’, was perhaps overwhelmed as he could not find a single scoring move against Yazdani, who had more or less settled the final by taking a commanding 8-0 lead in the first period. Yazdani finished the bout early in the second period to defend his title.

Meanwhile, Yash Tunir (74kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) crashed out without reaching the medal round. Overall, India won six medals.