Sports Bureau
Olympian and World championships silver medallist Deepak Punia (86kg) got a silver medal, while Viky (92kg) took a bronze in the Asian wrestling championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Sunday. India collected a total of seven medals from the freestyle competitions. Deepak got past Iranian Mohsen Mostafavi 6-0 in the quarterfinals and former Asian Games bronze medallist Gwanuk Kim of Korea 5-0 in the semifinals. In the final against multiple Asian medallist Kazakhstan’s Azamat Dauletbekov, Deepak could not execute his attacks. The Kazakh, who defended strongly to keep Deepak at bay, picked up some important points through counter-attacking takedowns and won the bout 6-1. Deepak’s lone equalising point came through the activity clock. This was Deepak’s second consecutive silver and fourth continental medal, including two bronze. Viky saw off Kyrgyz Mirlan Chynybekov 4-3 but went down against Mongolian Orgilokh Dagvadorj 11-0. The Indian fought back to beat Uzbekistan’s Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov 5-3 in the bronze medal duel. Mangal Kadyan (61kg) beat Turkmenistan’s Mekan Muhammedov 11-0 but lost to Rio Olympics silver medallist Rei Higuchi of Japan 10-0. He defeated Kuwait’s Ali Almohaini 10-0 in a repechage round match before getting beaten 6-4 by Kyrgyzstan’s former Asian champion Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov in the bronze medal contest. Yash (74kg) and Anirudh Kumar (125kg) exited early.
