Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 25: On the final day of the 2022 Asian Wrestling Championships, on Sunday, Tokyo Olympian Deepak Punia took silver in the men’s freestyle 86 kg division, while Viky took bronze in the 92 kg category.
With the two medals on the final day of the competition, India completed with a total of 17 medals in Ulaanbaatar, including one gold, five silver, and 11 bronze. Ravi Kumar Dahiya, a Tokyo medalist, won the lone gold medal in the men’s 57kg weight class.
Though the count surpassed last year’s haul of 14, India did win more gold medals, five, at the 2021 edition held at Almaty. Punia, a former world champion, started his campaign with a 6-0 win over Iranian grappler Mohsen Miryousef Mostafavi Alanjagh before defeating South Korean Olympian Kim Gwanuk, a bronze medalist at the 2014 Asian Games, 5-0 in the semi-finals.
In the gold medal match, however, the Indian grappler was defeated 6-1 by Kazakhstan’s Azamat Dauletbekov, and had to settle for a silver medal for the second year in a row at the Asian Championships.
In the 92kg division, India’s Viky defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Mirlan Chynybekov 4-3 in the quarterfinals, but was eliminated by Mongolia’s Orgilokh Dagvadorj in the semis due to technical superiority. Viky earned a podium finish in the bronze medal match after defeating Uzbek grappler Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov 5-3.
Mangal Kadyan, another Indian wrestler, made it to the bronze medal match of the 61kg event via repechage, but was denied a spot on the podium by Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov, who won the medal round 6-4.
Yash (74kg) and Anirudh (125kg), the other two Indian wrestlers in action on Sunday, were eliminated following their initial matches.
