Hangzhou Asian Games | Deepak Punia settles for silver, Indian wrestlers return with six medals
The Hindu
India's wrestling campaign at the Asian Games ended with six medals but no gold. Deepak Punia lost to his childhood idol Yazdani in the men's 86kg final, settling for silver. Sunil Kumar, Antim Panghal, Sonam Malik, Aman Sehrawat, and Kiran Bishnoi won medals for India. Bajrang Punia's defeat was the biggest disappointment.
Hasan Yazdani expectedly proved too good for Deepak Punia, who settled for a silver after losing by technical superiority to the Iranian legend in the men's 86kg category as India's wrestling campaign concluded at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on October 7 with six medals but without a gold.
It was the second time that Deepak found himself up against his childhood idol Yazdani, the two-time Olympic medallist and eight-time World Championship medallist.
In the 2019 World Championships in Nur Sultan, Deepak had reached the final on debut but did not wrestle against the Iranian due to a foot injury and conceded the bout, settling for a silver.
The 24-year-old Deepak, known as 'Ketli Pehalwan', was perhaps overwhelmed as he could not find a single scoring move against Yazdani, who had more or less settled the final by taking a commanding 8-0 lead in the first period.
Yazdani finished the bout early in the second period to defend his title.
Meanwhile, Yash Tunir (74kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) crashed out of the Games without reaching the medal round.
Overall, India won six medals and the embarrassing defeat of Bajrang Punia on Friday was the biggest disappointment.