Newshub18:Fourth medal in world wrestling, Bajrang made history.
Blood burst from the head. Somehow taped on and continued to fight. However, he lost in the quarter finals. Star wrestler Bajrang Punia returns home after winning a medal from Belgrade World Wrestling Championship despite injury, loss. Made history. He is the first Indian wrestler to win four medals at the World Wrestling Championships. Bronze in 2013, silver medal in 2018 and bronze again in 2019. In the 65kg category of this year’s edition of the World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, he defeated Puerto Rico’s Sebastian Ribera by 11-9 to write his name next to the bronze medal.
Bajrang Punia has seen consistent good performances over the years. He won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at the Commonwealth Games. At the same time, Bajrang brought the second medal to the country from this year’s World Wrestling Championship. Apart from her, female wrestler Vinesh Phogat bagged the bronze medal.
Bajrang fell behind in the early bouts of the World Wrestling Championship. He lost the bout after sustaining a serious head injury in the quarter-final match. Finally, the chance to win a medal through repechage came in front of Bajrang. The star wrestler took full advantage of it. In the first match of the repechage, Armenian wrestler Bezgen defeated Tobanyan with a great fight. He fought regardless of injury. However, its effect was seen during the bout. Bajrang was trailing 0-6 in the bronze medal playoff match. From there, he turned around strongly and won the bout with a margin of 11-9.
A total of 30 wrestlers from India participated in Greco-Roman, Freestyle and Women’s categories in World Wrestling without Bajrang. Only two of them are returning with medals. Apart from Bajrang and Vinesh, Sagar Jaglan, Naveen Malik and Nisha Dahiya were the contenders for bronze medals. Although not successful. Olympic and Commonwealth Games medalist Ravi Dahiya was knocked out early in the tournament. He lost in the pre quarter finals