Junior World Wrestling Championships | Deepak Punia lone Indian to play men’s freestyle final
Deepak Punia is the only Indian to qualify for the men’s freestyle final of the Junior World Wrestling Championships Tallinn, Estonia. After winning a silver medal in the previous edition of the competition, the Indian wrestler will look forward to bagging the yellow metal in the 86 kg category.
With an aim of changing the colour of the medal from the last edition of the Junior World Championships, wrestler Deepak Punia will fight it out in the final of the men’s 86kg freestyle category on Wednesday. The Indian will face Russia’s Alik Shebzukhov in the summit clash after registering brilliant wins in the first three bouts of the tournament.
After winning 10-1 against Hungary’s Milan Korcsog in the pre-quarterfinal round, Deepak got the better of Hunter Lee of Canada by 5-1 in the next round. A 3-2 victory over Georgia’s Miriani Maisuradze gave him the ticket to the final of the tournament.
Before winning the silver in the last edition, Deepak had also bagged the title in the Cadet Championships back in 2016 and in the senior category, he will also be a part of the Indian contingent for the World Championships in Kazakhstan which is an Olympic qualification tournament.
Vijay Patil and Akash Antil lost their bronze medal play-off encounters to Akhmed Idrisov in 57 kg Makhsud Veysalov in 97 kg categories respectively. Ravinder (61 kg), Parveen Malik (74 kg) and Viky (92 kg) will take part in the repechage round and still have hope of winning bronze medals.