World Wrestling Championships 2019: India's Deepak Punia storms into 86kg final

Indian wrestler Deepak Punia on Saturday became the first athlete of the country to book his place in the final of the 2019 World Wrestling Championships after beating Stefan Reichmuth of Switzerland in the semi-final bout of the men's 86kg category in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

The reigning junior world champion, who had earlier in the day qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, proved to be too dominant for his Swiss opponent as he secured a comfortable 8-2 win to storm into the summit showdown of the prestigious event. 

Punia will now square off with legendary wrestler Hassan Yazdani of Iran for a gold medal.

Earlier on Saturday, Punia became the fourth Indian wrestler to secure Tokyo Olympics berth after booking his place in the semi-finals of the ongoing World Wrestling Championship. 

The Indian grappler entered the last-four of the championship after sweeping past Carlos Mendez of Colombia 7-6 in the quater-final bout of the men's  86-kg freestyle category.

En route to the semi-finals, Punia had also eased past Tajikistan's Kodirov Bakhodur 6-0 in the pre-quarterfinal bout and defeated Kazhakstan's Adilet Davlumbayev 8-6  in the opening bout. 

Earlier, Vinesh Phogat,  Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Bajrang Punia all secured their berth in the Tokyo Olympics after winning bronze medals in their respective weight categories.