Deepak shines after women grapplers’ success

Deepak Punia bagged the 85kg freestyle gold medal to inflate India’s medals tally to four in the ongoing World cadet wrestling championship at Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday.

India’s medals tally stands at four in the ongoing World cadet wrestling championship. (Representational image)

Deepak Punia bagged the 85kg freestyle gold medal to inflate India’s medals tally to four in the ongoing World cadet wrestling championship at Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday.

Deepak went past Nurislan Uulu of Kyrgyzstan (by fall), Simon Oksaniani of Georgia (6-1), Alexander Warner of the USA (4-4) and Jakub Szymula of Poland (10-0) to set up a title clash with Nail Seyyar. In the final, the Indian defeated the Turkish wrestler 9-5 to secure the second gold for the country.

Earlier, the women wrestlers gathered three medals to help India garner 44 points and claim the fourth spot in the team rankings. Japan (89), Russia (67) and the USA (51) were the top three nations in the women’s section.

Manisha (38kg) edged out Bulgarian Petya Delcheva 5-4 in the final to take the 38kg gold medal, while Mansi lost to Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan 0-10 to settle for the silver in 40kg.

Anshu beat Aina Temirtassova of Kazakhstan 7-4 in the repechage round to get a 60kg bronze medal.