Deepak Punia missed out on a bronze medal in the 84-kg freestyle category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Tampere, Finland, on Wednesday. Punia lost the medal bout comprehensively 10-0 to Azerbaijan’s Gadzhimurad Magomedsaidov.
84kg Bronze: Gadzhimurad MAGOMEDSAIDOV (AZE) def. Deepak PUNIA (IND), 10-0 #Tampere2017
— World Wrestling (@wrestling) August 2, 2017
Earlier, Punia had successfully made it through his pre-quarter-final and quarter-final bouts to reach the semi-finals. The 2016 World Cadet champion defeated Uzbekistan’s Javrail Shapiev 18-12 in the pre-quarter-final, and Hungary’s Bendeguz Toth in the quarter-final 4-0. However, in the semi-final, Punia was unable to get past American Zahid Valencia, who won their bout 11-0.
As it turned out, it was Valencia’s reaching the gold medal bout that helped Magomedsaidov reach the bronze medal play-off through the repechage round. Valencia had defeated Magomedsaidov in their pre-quarter-final bout 11-2.
Final Team Scores #Tampere2017 pic.twitter.com/Ey8n3I5ayf
— Jason Bryant (@jasonmbryant) August 2, 2017
In the freestyle category, India finished seventh with a total of 27 points from among 10 countries. The United States of America claimed the first place with 68 points, with Russia narrowly coming second with 67 points. Iran took the third spot scoring 49 points.
