Deepak Punia at Asian Games 2026: Loses 8-9 Semi-final, Eyes 97kg Bronze

Deepak Punia went into the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan chasing a first Asian Games gold, after a silver at Hangzhou in 2023. Wrestling at the Games runs from 30 September to 3 October at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre, and the men's freestyle 97kg category was contested on the last day, 3 October.

His route to Nagoya was unusual. Having battled injuries and largely competed at 86kg and 92kg, Punia suffered an injury just five to six days before the Asian Games trials at the SAI Regional Centre in Lucknow on 30 May 2026, and was unable to cut weight. Rather than pull out, he moved up to 97kg, beat reigning U23 Asian champion Vicky 7-3 in the semi-final and pinned Jointy Kumar in the final to seal his spot on the Indian team.

This is Japan's third time hosting the Asian Games, with 43 sports and 469 events. Read our complete guide to Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, check the Asian Games 2026 India schedule, and see where to watch Asian Games 2026 live in India. See the full Asian Games 2026 wrestling schedule for every India bout.

Deepak Punia (born 19 May 1999 in Chhara village, Jhajjar district, Haryana) is an Indian freestyle wrestler and a 2019 World Championship silver medallist in the 86kg category. He is an Asian Games silver medallist (Hangzhou 2023) and a 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and now competes at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in a new 97kg category, where he is in the bronze-medal bout.

Deepak Punia's rise from a village akhada in Chhara to an Olympian and Subedar in the Indian Army is one of Indian wrestling's most closely followed stories. Known for his powerful defensive technique, he was once ranked World No. 1 in the 86kg category and has repeatedly pushed himself back from serious injuries to stay among Asia's best.

Deepak Punia was born on 19 May 1999 in Chhara, a village in Haryana's Jhajjar district long known for its traditional mud-pit wrestling (dangal) culture. His father, Subhash Punia, now a dairy farmer, was himself a local wrestler, and enrolled Deepak in the village akhada run by Virender Singh Dalal at the age of five. Local wrestlers nicknamed the young Deepak "ketli" (kettle) after he reportedly drank several glasses of milk in one sitting.

Spotted at a school-level tournament, Punia moved to Delhi's famous Chhatrasal Stadium in 2015, training under coach Satpal Singh alongside mentors including two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar. He serves in the Indian Army with the rank of Subedar, attached to the Rajputana Rifles.

Punia's only previous Asian Games appearance came at Hangzhou (held in 2023), where he became the only Indian wrestler to reach a final at those Games. He beat Uzbekistan's Javrail Shapiev in the semi-final, then lost the gold-medal bout to his long-time rival and idol, Iran's Hassan Yazdani, to win silver in the 86kg category.

• 2016: Gold at the World Cadet Championships in Tbilisi (85kg).
• 2018: Gold at the Asian Junior Championships in New Delhi and silver at the World Junior Championships in Trnava.
• 2019: Gold at the World Junior Championships in Tallinn, becoming the first Indian junior world champion since 2001, then reached the senior World Championship final in Nur-Sultan the same year, withdrawing from the final against Hassan Yazdani through injury to take silver.
• 2021: Awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India.

At his Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021, Punia reached the semi-finals of the 86kg category before losing 0-10 to American David Taylor. In the bronze medal bout, he led San Marino's Myles Amine 2-1 with under a minute remaining, only to concede in the closing seconds and fall 2-4, missing an Olympic medal by the narrowest of margins.

Deepak Punia's technique was shaped by three key mentors: Virender Singh Dalal, who trained him at the village akhada in Chhara from the age of five; Satpal Singh, the veteran guru who guided him after his move to Delhi's Chhatrasal Stadium in 2015; and Sushil Kumar, the two-time Olympic medallist who trained alongside him at Chhatrasal.

Injuries and disruptions have shaped much of Deepak's career, particularly in recent years:

• 2019 World Championships: Withdrew from the 86kg gold-medal bout against Hassan Yazdani through injury, settling for silver.
• 2024 Asian Olympic Qualifiers, Bishkek: He and Sujeet Kalkal missed the weigh-in and were barred from competing after their flight from Dubai was delayed by bad weather, despite the delay being outside their control.
• 2026 Asian Games trials build-up: An injury five to six days before the Lucknow trials forced him to stop training and abandon his weight cut for 86kg, leading to a late switch to 97kg.

Punia bounced back from Tokyo with two of the biggest results of his career: gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the 86kg category, and, a year later at the rescheduled 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, a silver medal after a hard-fought run to the final. In between, he added silver at the 2022 Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar.

Punia's bid for a second Olympics hit trouble in April 2024, when he and fellow wrestler Sujeet Kalkal arrived late in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and missed the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers altogether, ending his hopes of a Paris 2024 berth. He used the setback to refocus, returning to the mat over 2024 and 2025 with continued Asian-level performances.

Through 2024 and 2025, Punia largely competed at 92kg, winning silver at the 2025 Asian Championships in Amman, alongside bronze medals at Grand Prix events in Istanbul (2022) and Kocaeli (2025). These results kept him inside India's core wrestling squad heading into the Asian Games cycle.

Punia was absent from the 2025 National Championships and the 2026 Senior Federation Cup, and only entered the Asian Games trials picture after the Wrestling Federation of India opened a path for medallists from the Gonda Open Ranking Tournament. Training throughout for his usual 86kg category, he was injured five to six days before the Lucknow trials on 30 May. With doctors advising recovery, he stepped up to 97kg instead. He beat U23 Asian champion Vicky 7-3 in the semi-final, his toughest bout of the day, and pinned Jointy Kumar in the final to confirm his place in the Indian team for Aichi-Nagoya. At the Asian Games he won his opening bout 12-2, advanced from the quarter-final by forfeit, and lost the semi-final 8-9 before moving into the bronze-medal bout.

Punia's next bout is the men's freestyle 97kg bronze-medal match against Mongolia's Gankhuyag Ganbaatar on Saturday 3 October 2026 at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre, scheduled for about 3:18 PM IST. Bout times can change on the day, so check the official schedule. Live coverage in India is on the Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV.

Punia's career-best result remains his 2019 World Championship silver at 86kg, the same year he briefly held the World No. 1 ranking in the category.

• Arjuna Award (2021): Conferred by the Government of India for his World Championship silver and Olympic performance.
• Asian Games Silver Medallist: Silver in the men's 86kg freestyle at the Hangzhou Asian Games (held 2023).
• World Championship Silver Medallist: Silver at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan.
• Indian Army Service: Serves as a Subedar with the Rajputana Rifles.

He also won bronze at the 2019 and 2020 Asian Championships, bronze at the 2017 Asian Indoor Games, gold at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships and the 2016 World Cadet Championships, and bronze at Grand Prix events in Istanbul (2022) and Kocaeli (2025).

Punia lines up as part of India's men's freestyle contingent at the 2026 Asian Games alongside Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Sagar Jaglan (74kg) and Rajat Ruhal (125kg). On the final day of wrestling, Aman Sehrawat and Antim Panghal reached their finals, while Sagar Jaglan joined Punia in a bronze-medal bout. In the 97kg draw, Uzbekistan's Sherzod Poyonov beat Punia 9-8 in the semi-final, while his long-time rival at 86kg, Iran's Hassan Yazdani, remains the wrestler who beat him in the 2023 Asian Games final.

Deepak Punia's career matters well beyond his medal count.

• The first Indian junior world wrestling champion since 2001
• A World Championship silver medallist and briefly World No. 1 at 86kg
• An Olympian who came within one bout of a Tokyo Olympic medal
• A serving Subedar in the Indian Army who rebuilt his career at a new weight class after repeated injuries

From a village akhada in Chhara to a fresh 97kg campaign at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Deepak Punia's story is one of persistence through setbacks, and after an 8-9 semi-final loss a bronze medal is still within reach.