World Wrestling Championships, Bajrang Punia wins bronze: His career achievements
India's Bajrang Punia clinched a bronze medal in the World Wrestling Championships on Sunday. Bajrang overcame Puerto Rico's Sebastian C Rivera in the bronze medal match. The former earlier lost to John Michael Diakomihalis in the quarter-final. Bajrang had qualified for the bronze medal clash after defeating Vazgen Tevanyan. Bajrang has become the first Indian to secure four medals at the World Wrestling Championships.
Three WWC bronze medals for Bajrang!
Second successive CWG gold medal for Bajrang
Earlier this year, Bajrang clinched his second successive gold medal at the Commonwealth Games (CWG). He defeated Lachlan Maurice McNeil 9-2 in the men's freestyle 65kg final at the Birmingham Games. Bajrang won the gold medal in Gold Coast four years ago (65kg category). Prior to that, he won the silver medal in the 2014 event held in Glasgow (61kg category).
Asian Games, Asian Championships, and World Championships
Besides his three CWG medals, Bajrang has bagged two medals at the Asian Games. He won the gold in 2018 Jakarta (65kg) and silver in 2014 Incheon (61kg). He has won eight medals at the Asian Championships, including two top prizes in 2017 and 2019. He has won a silver and two bronze medals at the World Championships as well.
Tokyo Olympics: Bajrang Punia bagged bronze
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Bajrang won a historic bronze medal. He defeated Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan (65kg) 8-0 in the bronze medal match. The former became the sixth Indian to win an Olympic medal in wrestling after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Sakshi Malik, and Ravi Dahiya. It was India's sixth medal at the Tokyo Games.
Two Commonwealth Championships gold medals
Bajrang has won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Championships. He won a silver at the World Under-23 Championships in 2017. Earlier this year, he bagged a bronze at the 2022 Bolat Turlykhanov Cup.
A look at other achievements of Bajrang
Bajrang has won the Arjuna award (2015), Padma Shri award (2019), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award (2019), and FICCI India Sports award (2020). For his bronze in Tokyo, Bajrang received Rs. 30 lakh from the Government of India, Rs. 2.5 crore from the Government of Haryana, Rs. 25 lakh from the BCCI, and Rs. 25 lakh from the Indian Olympic Association.
