India’s Deepak Punia became the fourth Indian wrestler to finish with a silver medal at the Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia.
On Sunday, Punia was up against Arif Ozen of Turkey in the 86kg weight category final but lost the closely-contested bout 1-2. With that India ended the championships with seven medals.
Punia, who finished fifth at last year’s junior worlds, conceded a takedown early in the first period and Ozen sat on his 2-0 lead for the remaining part of the bout.
Despite his efforts, Punia could not pull off his attacks on the Turk, who did get a passivity warning in the second period. But he did well to stop Punia reaching for his legs.
Late in the bout, a pushout gave Punia a point but that was too little too late. India’s 17-year-old wait for a gold medal at junior world championships continues.
India had a chance to add a bronze medal to the tally with Sachin Rathi wrestling in the playoff but he was humbled by Russia’s Devid Betanov 11-1.