Injury forces Tokyo-bound Deepak Punia to withdraw from Poland Open wrestling
Punia aggravated an elbow injury during his warm-up before taking the mat for his 86kg freestyle category bout.
India’s Olympic-bound wrestler Deepak Punia has pulled out of the Poland Open, a ranking series event, following an elbow injury, the international wrestling body confirmed on Tuesday.
Deepak Punia was due to compete in the 86kg freestyle category in Warsaw. His first match was slated to be against Zahid Valencia of the USA but Punia withdrew after aggravating a niggle on his elbow during a warm-up session.
According to PTI, the Indian wrestler suffered the injury a few days ahead of the Poland Open. Deepak had sealed a quota for the Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 world championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Deepak won a silver medal at the Asian Championships earlier this year, losing by technical superiority to Iranian world and Olympic champion Hassan Yazdani in the final**.**
India’s participation at the Poland Open will continue on Wednesday with Ravi Kumar Dahiya taking the mat in the 61kg freestyle category while on Thursday, Vinesh Phogat (women’s 53kg) and Anshu Malik (women’s 57kg) will be in action.