Wrestling Asian Championships : Deepak Punia settles for silver again

Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), April 24

Deepak Punia could do nothing against the solid defence of Kazakhstan’s Azmat Dauletbekov and settled for the silver medal in the 86kg category, while Vicky Chahar grabbed a bronze in the 92kg competition on the concluding day of the wrestling Asian Championships here today.

Eyeing his maiden gold medal at the event, Deepak reached the final without conceding a single point as he blanked Iran’s Mohsen Miryousef Mostafavi Alanjagh 6-0 and South Korea’s Gwanuk Kim 5-0. However, Dauletbekov did not let the Indian play his aggressive game, foiling a few of his attacks with remarkable ease. Deepak usually stuns his rivals with his speed and agility but Dauletbekov was up for the task and smartly foiled the Indian’s leg attacks by maintaining distance.

Dauletbekov grabbed his chances on counterattacks and kept building his lead to eventually win the final by a comfortable 6-1 margin.

It is Deepak’s fourth medal at the Asian Championship, having earlier won one silver (2021) and two bronze (2019, 2020).

Vicky defeated Uzbekistan’s Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov 5-3 in a bronze medal playoff. He had lost 0-11 to Mongolia’s Orgilokh Dagvadorj in the semifinals.

India signed off with 17 medals from the event. Ravi Dahiya was the lone gold medal winner for India, having finished on top in the freestyle 57kg category.

Mangal Kadyan lost a 61kg bronze-medal clash 4-6 to Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov. In the 74kg category, Yash Tunir lost 10-11 against Uzbekistan’s Ikhtiyor Navruzov in the qualification round. In the 125kg, Anirudh Kumar lost his quarterfinal 4-8 to South Korea’s Yeihyun Jung. —