Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia won the gold medal at Tbilisi Grand Prix of V. Balavadze and G. Kartozia in Georgia with a 9-3 win over Iran’s Mehran Akbar Nasiriafrachali in the 65kg category final.
He reached the summit clash after defeating Yones Aliakbar Emamichoghaei of Iran (3-1) and Russia’s Murshid Mutalimov (6-5) in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively. He overcame Gor Ogannesyan from Ukraine in the pre quarterfinal, winning 14-4 on technical superiority.
Meanwhile, Deepak Punia won the bronze medal in the 86kg category by defeating Turkey’s Osman Gocen 5-3.
Deepak bowed out in the quarter-final stage after losing to Saba Chikhradze of Georgia. However, his opponent’s progress to the final saw Deepak enter the repechage round, where he defeated Uzbekistan’s Umidjon Ismanov 3-1 before his bronze medal playoff.
Earlier, Sushil Kumar lost his first bout in more than four years, when he lost 4-8 to Polish grappler Andrzej Piotr Sokalski in the 74 kg category.
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