- By Himanshu Badola
- Sat, 07 Oct 2023 04:26 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
India's grappler Deepak Punia ended up winning the silver medal in the men's freestyle 86kg wrestling category at the Asian Games 2023.
Deepak suffered a defeat in the final as Iran's Hassan Yazdani got the better of him by 10-0 in the men's final in Hangzhou.
A Commonwealth Games champion, Deepak Punia couldn't add another gold to his tally but bagged the silver medal as he finished second in the particular event.
On the other hand, Hassan Yazdani successfully defended his Asian Games title, winning all of his four bouts on technical superiority.
Talking about the match, Hassan had the upper hand in the contest, taking an eight-point lead in the first round including two takedowns. Deepak Punia put up a fight early in the second round but the Iranian wrestler proved too strong and defended his Asian Games title.
The 24-year-old Indian star Deepak Punia defeated Bahrain's Magomed Magomed R Sharipov, Indonesia's Randa Riandesta, Japan's Shota Shirai, and Uzbekistan's Javrail Shapiev to reach the final to play the gold medal match.
Deepak Punia's silver is the first by an Indian wrestler at the 19th Asian Games. Sonam Malik, Sunil Kumar, Kiran Bishnoi, Antim Panghal, and Aman Sehrawat won the bronze medals.
However, the 2018 Asian Games champion Bajrang Punia failed to win a medal.
Deepak won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in the 86kg bracket, having already won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in the same category.
The other Indian wrestlers Yash (74kg), Vicky (97kg), and Sumit (125kg) failed to win medals today as India finished their campaign with six medals.
With six medals in wrestling from Hangzhou, Indian wrestlers doubled their tally from the 2018 Asian Games.
In 2018, Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Vinesh Phogat (50kg) bagged gold medals while India’s best result at Hangzhou 2023 was Deepak Punia’s silver.