Deepak Punia’s coach asked to leave Olympic Games village following assault of referee
Indian wrestler Deepak Punia’s foreign coach Murad Gaidarov, a 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medalist, was asked to leave the Olympic Games village after he assaulted a referee.
The incident took place after Deepak Punia’s defeat in the 86 kg men’s freestyle bronze medal bout against San Marino’s Myles Nazim Amine on Thursday. Deepak Punia was 4-2 after leading 2-1 for the majority of the bout. Punia suffered a 2-4 defeat in the bronze medal match.
Gaidarov went to the referees’ room after the bout and attacked the referee. The IOC had asked the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to take urgent disciplinary action against the Russian coach.
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The WFI was let off with a warning after it apologized. Gaidarov was previously disqualified from the 2004 Athens Games for attacking his opponent after his defeat in the quarterfinals.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary-General Rajeev Mehta confirmed the incident on Twitter and wrote:
“The Indian Wrestling team's foreign assistant coach Mr. Murad Gaidarov, who was involved in an uncalled incident of assault on one of the match referees, is being withdrawn from the Tokyo Olympic Village immediately. He is being called back to India on the latest flight."
The IOC canceled Deepak Punia's coach Gaidarov's accreditation and had written to the Indian contingent in Tokyo to ask the Games Village to leave immediately.
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Earlier on Thursday, Ravi Dahiya settled for silver after he went down against the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) Zavur Uguev in the men’s 57 kg freestyle category at the Olympics.
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Meanwhile, Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia faced a crushing defeat in the semi-finals against Haji Aliyev 5-12. The Haryana-born wrestler will now wrestle for the bronze medal match on Saturday.
Seema Bisla (50 kg), Vinesh Phogat (53 kg), Anshu Malik (57 kg) and Sonam Malik (62 kg) also had disappointing outings at the Olympics. None of the Indian women wrestlers competed in the medal match.