Vinesh Phogat and Deepak Punia chosen best wrestlers of 2019 by wrestling fans

New Delhi, December 29: World Championships silver medallist Deepak Punia and World Championships bronze medallist Vinesh Phogat emerged winners in a unique poll initiated by WrestlingTV, India's first and only digital destination for the sport of wrestling.

162,392 fans participated in the poll that started on 15th December over a period of 10 days to choose the best male and female Indian wrestlers of the just-concluded 2019 season.

While fan favourite Vinesh Phogat was expected to win, she got a close fight from Komal Panchal, who won the Cadet World Championship gold medal this year. Vinesh ultimately won the battle in a photo finish with 40.7% votes with Panchal pulling in 40.3% votes.

2018 World Championship medallist Pooja Dhanda polled 13.6% votes and Under-23 world medallist Pooja Gehlot got 5.4% of total votes.

The thrilling battle in the 'Best Male Wrestler' category was won by UWW Junior Freestyle Wrestler of the Year 2019, Deepak Punia, who polled 41.6% votes after a stellar year that saw the 18-year-old win the Junior World Championships gold, Senior World Championships silver and he also secured the World No. 1 ranking in 86kg. The youngster beat competition from World Championships medallists, Rahul Aware (39.7% votes), Bajrang Punia (11.3% votes) and Ravi Dahiya (7.4% votes).

"I am thankful to WrestlingTV for conducting this poll and it feels great to receive such humongous response from fans for the first time. This will inspire me to continue giving my best," said Deepak Punia.

WrestlingTV was launched this year in a bid to take the sport to every corner of the country and to bring the sport closer to fans. 5 wrestling fans were chosen as best fans by WrestlingTV. They are as follows:

1. Ash Roop Kahlon

2. Sunny Chaudhary

3. Parbhat Kandola

4. Rohit Singh

5. Sandeep Kumar

Source: Media Release