New Delhi: Only 29 days after Deepak Punia became the first Indian wrestler in 18 years to win gold at the junior World Championships, he retired from the 86-kg final to win a silver in his very first outing at the senior Worlds. It has been an extraordinary couple of months for the 20-year-old and it only gets better when one considers the fact that he went all the way to the final in Nur-Sultan despite carrying an ankle injury for much of the tournament.

However, the injury caught up with him in the end -- Deepak was visibly struggling after beating Switzerland's Stefan Reichmuth 8-2 in the semi-final and the next day, it had emerged that he had pulled out of the final.