The job is only half done, says Deepak Punia

CHANDIGARH: A month ago, Deepak Punia bagged gold in the 86kg category and ended India's 18-year-old wait at the

Junior World Wrestling Championship

held in Tallinn, Estonia.


On Sunday, the Jhajjar lad will again have a chance to end India's nine-year gold medal drought as he will wrestle for gold at the World Championships. The 20-year-old reigning junior world champion on Saturday won his semifinal bout Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan with a commanding 8-2 win over Switzerland's

Stefan Reichmuth

. With this win, he has also booked his Tokyo Olympics quota.

It has been a steady progress for Deepak, who won the World Cadet title in 2016.

The 20-year old has ensured that India will return from the World Championship with its best ever performance as the country is now assured of four medals. India had returned with three medals in 2013.

"It is the most satisfying medal I have won in my career. I have won medals at junior level but this feels so different, so important. However, the job is only half done I still have one bout to go. Jaan laga denge (Will give my everything)," Deepak told TOI from Nur-Sultan.

Deepak who hails from Chhara village in Haryana's Jhajjar district will wrestle the legendary Olympic champion

Hassan Yazdani

of Iran in the final and will try to become the second world gold medalist from India after Sushil Kumar's heroics in Moscow in 2010.

Commenting on his final opponent, he said: "He is a defending Olympics champion. But I don't have anything to lose. I will go all out and hopefully, I will be able to defeat him," he added.

During his semifinal bout against Reichmuth, Deepak got a couple of cuts on his right eye. "It's a bit scary because I thought I won't be able to wrestle but thankfully it held up," he said. "There is still pain but abhi kuch lag nahi raha (I am not feeling anything now)."

Earlier in the day, Deepak prevailed in a tense quarter-final against Colombia's Carlos Arturo Mendez to lock the quota after winning 7-6. With one minute to go, he was trailing 3-6 but pulled off a takedown and then an expose move to take a 7-6 lead in the dying moments of the tense bout.