Wrestler Bajrang Punia outplayed Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan 8-0 to win the bronze in the men's 65kg freestyle category at the Tokyo Olympics, today.
Playing an aggressive game, Punia attacked and defended equally well to win India's fourth bronze medal and sixth overall in Tokyo.
If his defence let him down in the semifinal against Hazi Aliev, Punia's smart attacking moves made him the winner against Niyazbekov, to whom he had lost in the semifinals of the 2019 World Championship.
Punia, from Khuddan village in Jhajjar district, had edged past Kyrgyzstan's Ernazar Akmataliev and then pinned Iran's Morteza Cheka Ghiasi to reach the semifinals. However, his perennial leg-defence weakness came to haunt him at the big stage as he lost to Rio Olympics bronze-winner Aliev of Azerbaijan in the semis.
However, against Niyazbekov, there were no visible signs of any discomfort, as Punia went into the offensive right from the start.
With Punia's medal win, India has matched its best result at the Olympics in wrestling. Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt had won a silver and a bronze at the 2012 London Games.
Before the Olympics, he had told THE WEEK: "These are going to be my first Olympics and it is of course special for me because representing their country at the Olympic stage is every athlete’s dream. Having said that, one cannot enter the competition thinking about all the medals they have won in past competitions. My focus is always on performing to the best of my ability in the challenge in front of me. I approach every competition in the same way, and the Olympics will be the same for me."
"Covid has caused a major inconvenience in our regular training routine. When the pandemic began, for the first 9 to 10 months it was incredibly difficult as no one could practice or train together as everyone was confined to their home. Of course, wrestling is a sport that also requires a lot of physical contact, so it was very difficult to train keeping the covid regulations in mind. But, I was fortunate to have my friend Jitender who plays in 74 Kg category and my physiotherapist Manish with me and we practised together," he had said.
(With inputs from Anirudh Madhavan)
