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

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.