India's Deepak Punia thrashes Pakistan's Muhammad Inam in final to win country's third gold in wrestling

File image (Source: Twitter)

Indian wrestler Deepak Punia bags a gold medal in the 86 kg event, beating Pakistan's Muhammad Inam in the final of Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Friday. With this India bags third gold medal of the day. Earlier, Sakshi Malik and Bajarang Punia won gold. In the final Deepak thrashed Inam 3-0. 

Deepak Punia wins 3rd gold for India in Wrestling  pic.twitter.com/4sv1HgYI4r

— Jitendra  (@Jitendr63761289) August 5, 2022

Punia's Commonwealth Games 2022 campaign was off to a good start as he defeated Matthew Oxenham of New Zealand in his men's freestyle 86 kg category match to enter the quarterfinal on Friday. Deepak was at his most dominant in this match which lasted for three minutes and 22 seconds. He crushed his New Zealand opponent by 10-0. Oxenham did not even get a chance to break free from Punia's grip and walked away from the match without a point. Technical skill-wise, Deepak was just too good for Oxenham and this factor helped him win. 

Naib Subedar Deepak Punia is an Indian freestyle wrestler and Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army who won a silver medal at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in the freestyle 86 kg category and secured a place in the 2020 Summer Olympics. He was born in the Jhajjar district of Haryana. In Tokyo Olympic 2020, he narrowly lost the bronze medal match to M.N. Amine of San Marino. At the Wrestling World Championships, Deepak settled for Silver after pulling out of the 86 kg final due to an injury where he was due to face Hassan Yazdani of Iran.

Achievement

2019 World Championship Silver
2020 Olympics 5th Position
2021 Asian Championship Silver
2022 Asian Championship Silver
Key Government Interventions:
Dan Kolov Nikola Petrov International Wrestling Competition in Bulgaria – 17th to 20th February 2022

● 1st Ranking Series in Turkey – 24th to 27th February 2022
● Sr. Asian Championship in Mongolia – 19th March to 26th March 2022
● 2nd Ranking Series in Kazakhstan – 2nd June to 6th June 2022
● U-23 Asian Championship in Kyrgyzstan – 19th June to 26th June 2022
● Training in Michigan University ahead of the Commonwealth Games facilitated by
TOPS from 10th July to 2nd August 2022.
● Financial Assistance for Special Training Camp in Bulgaria from 5th Feb to 23rd Feb
2022

Equipment Support: Procurement of Wrestling Mats and Equipment for Sr. National Coaching Camp.