CHENNAI: On the last day of the Asian Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, India’s freestyle wrestler Deepak Punia was pitted against reigning Olympic and world champion Hassan Yazdani in the 86kg final. The clash was always going to be a tough one for the 21-year-old Deepak as the legendary Iranian wrestler last lost an international bout way back in October 2019.
And expectedly, the two-time world champion romped home to an easy 10-0 victory on technical superiority leaving much for the Haryana wrestler to ponder over in the next couple of months. The 26-year-old Yazdani made quick moves and gave no time to his Indian counterpart as he inflicted takedowns to amass points.
This was Deepak’s first bout against Yazdani. "It was good that Deepak finally competed against Yazdani. He needs to find ways to beat the Iranian wrestler if he wishes to finish on the podium at the Tokyo Games," Virender Dalal, Deepak’s childhood coach, told this daily.
The duo was slated to meet in the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan final but Deepak conceded the bout to Yazdani due to an ankle injury. The second-place finish had helped Deepak to make an Olympic cut.
"The good thing is that Deepak managed to stop Yazdani from rolling him over. The Iranian accumulates points by rolling over his opponents. Deepak is a quick learner and I am quite sure he will learn a lot from this clash and come better prepared when the two meet again," added the coach.
Before finishing with silver in this edition, Deepak, who clinched the junior world title in 2018, had won two bronze medals in the Asian meet.
Meanwhile, India finished with 14 medals including five gold, three silver and six bronze from the championships. Apart from Deepak, Sanjeet beat Uzbekistan’s Rustam Shodiev 11-8 to pocket a bronze medal in the 92kg weight category.
India's Ravinder was also in contention for bronze in the 61kg but he lost the bout to Ikromzhon Khadzhimurodov of Kazakhstan 14-4.