By Navneet Singh
New Delhi, Jun 9 (IANS): Olympic Games bound freestyle wrestler Deepak Punia has pulled out of Poland Open Ranking Series in Warsaw due to minor injury that resurfaced prior to his bout, said a Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) official on Wednesday.
Punia was directly seeded into quarterfinals was scheduled to face Zahid Valencia of America.
"Punia who was carrying a niggle in the left hand withdrew from the men's 86kg freestyle event at the eleventh hour as there was possibility of injury being aggravating during the bout," WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told IANS.
"Team coach Jagminder Singh was of the opinion that it wouldn't be wise to compete with injury in the ranking series as the Olympics are around the corner," he said.
The Poland Ranking Series got underway on Monday and will conclude on Sunday.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya, who has qualified for the Olympics in the men's 57kg freestyle, defeated Abdullaev Gulomjon of Uzbekistan 10-1 in the first round of the 61kg. He will face Asharov Adian of Kazakhstan in the second round.
India's Anshu Malik (57 kg) and Vinesh Phogat (53 kg) will compete in the women's freestyle event.
After the ranking series, Indian team will also attend a coaching camp in Warsaw. The Indian team would return in the first week of July.