Commonwealth Games 2022: Deepak Punia beats defending champion from Pakistan; clinches 86kg gold

Wrestler Deepak Punia, on Friday, clinched the men's 86kg title at the ongoing 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games with a 3-0 win over Pakistan's Mohammed Inam Butt.

Brushing off his Tokyo Olympics disappointment, Deepak Punia beat the defending 86kg champion in Birmingham. The match started off evenly, but a passivity warning for the Pakistani wrestler gave Deepak Punia a much-needed 2-0 lead before the end of the first period.

The 23-year-old Indian maintained his lead in the second period of three minutes and even added one more point to his tally by pushing Inam out of the mat to win the match 3-0.

Deepak Punia was calculative in his bouts and finished on top of the podium without losing a single point. The wrestler from Chhara village began with technical superiority win over Matthew Clay Oxenham from New Zealand and beat Canada's Alexander Moore 3-1, setting up the gold medal bout against Pakistan's Muhammad Inam.

The 23-year-old Indian had better stamina and outlasted Inam 3-0. His first point was from a push out while the second came on passivity of the Pakistani. There were no big moves in the bout as Inam had lost steam by the second round. Deepak completed his win with another push out point.

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