Wrestler Bajrang Punia clinches Bronze

 

 

 

HE DID not live up to the sky-high expectations but India’s Bajrang Punia will return from Tokyo with a bronze medal on Olympic debut after outwitting Daulet Niyazbekov in the men’s freestyle 65kg play-off here on Saturday. If his defence let him down in the semi-final against Hazi Aliev, Bajrang’s smart attacking moves made him an 8-0 winner against Kazakhstan’s Niyazbekov, to whom he had lost in the semifinals of the 2019 World Championship. The medal-winning performance saved 27-year-old Bajrang and the Indian wrestling contingent from embarrassment since the wrestlers had entered Tokyo with high expectations. After medal-favourite Vinesh Phogat’s shock quarterfinal exit and Bajrang’s below par show in the first three matches, a pall of gloom had descended on the Indian wrestling contingent. Aware of the weight of expectations he was carrying, Bajrang knows this is not a result that would give him satisfaction. “I am not happy.

 

This is not the result I had set out to achieve. Winning an Olympic medal is no mean achievement but I can’t jump with joy with bronze,” Bajrang told PTI. The Haryana grappler said the knee injury he suffered in run up to the Games did impact his performance. “I would have played different but for this injury. It indeed was an issue. It did trouble me and played on mind. But I did not have the option to rest. After semi-final, I had to give my all and I did that,” Bajrang added. Bajrang had defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev and Iran’s Morteza Cheka Ghiasi before losing to Aliev from Azerbaijan in the semi-finals on Friday.