Asian Games: Deepak Punia advances in to final of Men's 86kg category; assures medal

Hangzhou (China): Grappler Deepak Punia won against Uzbekistan’s Javrail Shapiev in the men’s freestyle 86kg semifinal to book a place in the final, assuring India of yet another medal. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Deepak will face Rio 2016 Olympics champion Hassan Yazdani of Iran. The Iranian wrestler is also a three-time world champion in 2017, 2019 and 2021, along with the defending Asian Games champion in this category.

Deepak's gold medal bout with Hassan Yazdani will start after 2.30 pm IST on Saturday. Earlier, Deepak prevailed 7-3 against Japanese grappler Shota Shirai in the quarter-final bout. Deepak Punia had beaten Indonesia's Randa Riandesta 11-0 and Bahrain's Magomed Magomed R Sharipov 3-2 in the pre-quarterfinals and qualification rounds, respectively, at Hangzhou.

Meanwhile, fellow Indian wrestler Yash lost to Tajikistan's Magomet in the men's freestyle 74kg quarterfinal on Saturday. Another grappler, Sumit, went down fighting to Kyrgyzstan's Aiaal Lazarev in the men's freestyle 125kg pre-quarterfinals while Vicky lost to Kazakhstan's Alisher Yergali in his men's freestyle 97kg pre-quarterfinals.

The Indian wrestlers have done exceedingly well at the ongoing Asian Games. India also crossed the 100-medal tally mark for the first time in the history of the Games, following which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur hailed the athletes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the athletes on October 10 in New Delhi. (With agency inputs)