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Lucknow: Olympian Deepak Punia returned to the Indian national wrestling team after a year by winning the Asian Games Trials here at SAI Lucknow on Sunday.

Punia, who has been battling injuries for the past two years, suffered another setback recently when he was unable to cut weight for his usual 86kg category due to an injury.

As a result, he was forced to switch to the 97kg weight class. However, the change didn’t affect him much, as he powered through the trials with some impressive victories.

“I was only training for the 86kg category and had no plans to switch,” said Punia after his win.

“But 5-6 days ago, I suffered a muscle tear that didn’t allow me to cut weight. So, I had no option but to move up to 97kg,” he added.

The injury might have forced him to compete in 97kg, but Punia didn’t want to put on extra weight beyond his body’s tolerance and was only 95kg at the weigh-in.

Despite that, he continued to dominate on the mat, especially on his usual defensive counter-attacking play in the passivity zone, using speedy turnovers.

Although he started a little cautiously in earlier rounds, he showed an excellent move in the final to pin Jointy Kumar and book his ticket to Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

Late Entry to Trials

Punia was not in the initial list of entries for the trials as he didn’t compete in the two mandatory tournaments, like the 2025 National Championships and the 2026 Senior Federation Cup.

It was only after WFI’s decision on 27 May to let medallists from the recently concluded Gonda Open Ranking Tournament that he made it in.

“Every player was in good shape,” he said.

“There were a couple of close bouts, but I had faith in myself and my training that I’ll be able to pull it off,” he added.

Although he secured his quota for the 2026 Asian Games without any hiccups, he still wants to improve on few aspects of his game ahead of the quadrennial tournament.

“I want to work on my ground wrestling because if our ground is strong, we will not concede points quickly. I also want to work on my leg attack,” he revealed.

Ready for upcoming challenge

Punia has often found himself in a gritty battle with fate. He missed qualification for the Paris Olympics after being stranded in Dubai due to severe flooding, which prevented him from reaching the Asian Qualifiers 2024 on time.

At the Tokyo Olympics 2021, he came agonisingly close to a medal. Despite giving his all, he was unable to withstand his opponent’s relentless attacks and conceded a crucial step-out in the final moments of the bronze medal bout.

Now, he has another challenge up his sleeve as he enters one of the toughest weight categories in Asia, which features Bahrain’s Olympic champion Akhmed Tazhudinov and Japan’s rising star Arash Yoshida.

With the first goal now secured, even if it wasn’t part of his initial plan, Deepak Punia is determined to make 97kg his own.