Asian Wrestling Championships: India signs off with 17 medals

Olympic wrestler Deepak Punia bagged a silver medal, while Viky won a bronze as the Indian wrestlers signed off from the Asian Wrestling Championships in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar with 17 shining medals. 

Ravi Kumar Dahiya bagged one gold for India, while others won five silvers and 11 bronze medals. 

On the last day of the event on Sunday, Punia bagged the silver medal after losing at a score of 1-6 to Kazakhstan’s Azamat Dauletbekov in the 86kg men’s freestyle title. 

Although he maintained a good form in the initial rounds by not falling short of a single point to get to the clash, he could not beat Kazakh’s Azamat Dauletbekov’s strong grapple. 

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The silver marks Punia’s fourth medal at the Asian Championships, with one silver in 2021 and two bronze wins in 2019 and 2020.

Punia set foot in the finals after defeating Iran’s Mostafavi Alanjagah by a score of 6-0 in the quarters and South Korea’s Gwanuk Kim by a score of 5-0 in the semi-finals. 

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On the other hand, Viky won a bronze after losing to Uzbekistan’s Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov by a score of 5-3 in the 92kg category. 

In the 61kg title, India’s Mangal Kadyan was defeated by Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdobeshkov with a score of 4-6. 

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The other two Indian wrestlers- Anirudh Kumar (125kg) and Yash (74kg) failed to reach the qualifying level. 

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Although India surpassed its last year’s record of 14 medals, it failed to reach the goal of five gold medals that it set in 2021. The 2021 edition of the Asian Wrestling Championships was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.