Wrestling World Championships | Deepak Punia suffers injury ahead of final; settles for silver
Deepak Punia’s World Wrestling Championship campaign came to a premature end after he was forced to withdraw from the title clash due to an ankle injury he sustained in the previous match. The wrestler admitted that he wanted to win the gold for his country but he is too injured to compete.
In a heartbreaking revelation, Deepak Punia has had to retract his name from the World Wrestling Championships final in the 86 kg category hours before the match was scheduled to take place. He was supposed to go head to head against Iran’s Hassan Yazdani in an attempt to become only the second Indian to win gold in the prestigious tournament but a last-moment injury has put a halt to his dreams. The 20-year-old has no other choice but to settle for the silver
“I had an assessment in the morning and the physio said the ankle is very injured so I have decided to pull out of the final,” Punia told Scroll.in on Sunday.
He had pulled off a comeback victory in the last minute against Switzerland’s Stefan Reichmuth in the penultimate round, having triumphed over Turkmenistan's Kodirov and Kazakhstan's Adilet Davlumbayev previously. He twisted his ankle during a scramble with the opponent, while his right eye is also swollen such that it can barely be conceived as open.
“My ankle cannot take the load and it’s difficult to even stand. So wrestling will be very difficult. It was a big chance for me in the world final but it’s really difficult for me now,” he added.
The reigning junior world champion was making his debut in the mega event and has already qualified for the Olympics on the virtue of reaching the title round.
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