Deepak Punia with a chance for Gold at Junior World Wrestling C'ship

In a very rare occurence, India's Greco Roman wrestlers have bagged multiple medals at the Junior World Championships thus insinuating a change in the general direction of medal sources. Naveen Sihag settled for silver in the 57kg after losing the final 1-12 to Russia’s Akhmed Idrisov. The first medal for India in this competition came from young Sajan Bhanwala who won Silver at the Junior World Wrestling Championship 2018 in Men’s 77kg Greco-Roman category. By doing so, he became the only Indian to win two back to back medals in the said tournament having won the Bronze the previous year. This was certainly a matter of great encouragement. Two more Greco Roman wrestlers from India will be vying for Bronze medals. Sachin Rathi and Sanjeet are still alive in the competition as and they will fight for bronze after losing out in their semi-final and quarter-final bouts respectively earlier. But all eyes are going to be on just one wrestler today who has the chance to claim the title of the Junior World Champions after an extraordinary stint in the senior level recently. India have not won a Junior Wrestling gold at the world level since 1992. Deepak Punia, yesterday, booked a spot in the final of the 86kg weight category final and is one win away from a Gold after a supremely dominating performance. Throughout his time in the tournament, Deepak Punia has lost just two points and both points were dropped against Moldova’s Ivan Nedealco in the semi final. In women's wrestling, Haryana's Anshu Malik has already won a Bronze in the 59kg category after beating Russia's Alina Kazymova 11-5. She had lost out her semifinal to Sae Nanjo of Japan. Another Indian still in the fray is Mansi in the 57kg category after a loss in the semi final. Coming back to the boys, there was disappointment on the cards for India's Sandeep Singh Mann, who lost his 79kg repechage round to Ukraine’s Adlan Bataiev. Keep an eye out on the young guns as all action unfolds in Slovakia