Injured Deepak Punia withdraws from World Wrestling Championship final, settles for silver

NUR-SULTAN: Indian wrestler Deepak Punia has withdrawn from the final of the World Wrestling Championship with an ankle injury. "I am a bit disappointed that I can`t fight for gold but I am happy with my overall performance here. I will work hard and the aim is to win a medal in the Olympics," Deepak said on Sunday.

Deepak was scheduled to face Iran`s Hassan Yazdani in the finals in the 86-Kg category. Now, he has to settle with a silver medal. The pugilist on Saturday reached the finals of the World Wrestling Championship after defeating Swiss grappler Stefan Reichmuth by 8-2.

Earlier, Deepak secured an Olympic berth after he entered the semi-finals of the tournament. He had defeated Colombia`s Carlos Izquierdo 7-6 to enter the semi-finals.India now has four Olympic quotas from the championship including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Ravi Kumar. (ANI)