Deepak Punia aims for gold after securing final berth at the Junior World Wrestling Championship

Indian wrestling is on the up, after some brilliant results in the this year’s Gold Coast CWG and the recently concluded Asian Games as well. While Bajrang Punia bagged gold in both competitions, another wrestler with the same surname - Deepak Punia will also hope to do the same in the ongoing Junior World Wrestling Championship in Trnava.

Punia, defeated Moldova’s Ivan Nedealco with a convincing scoreline of 6-2 in the semi-final of the 86 kg category to secure a spot in the final. The Indian has only given away two points over the entire course of the competition. In his previous bouts, Punia beat Patrik Szurovszki (7-0) and Jayong Jin (11-0) without losing a single point in the two respective matches. The Indian will go up against Turkey’s Arif Ozen in the final as he will surely aim to clinch gold a this year’s world championships. 

Another Indian who was in contention for a medal, Naveen Sihag, had to make do with a silver medal in the 57kg after losing the final with a margin of 1-12 to Russia's Akhmed Idrisov. However, wrestlers Sachin Rathi and Sanjeet are still vying for a medal as they will fight for bronze after losing their semi-final and quarterfinal bouts respectively. Rathi lost his 74kg semifinal to Abubakr Abakarov by technical superiority  while Sanjeet lost his 92kg quarterfinal 2-7 to Iran's Abbas Ali, but managed to reach the repechage round.