About Bajrang Punia : Wikipedia Source
Punia was born in the Khudan village of Jhajjar district in the state of Haryana, India. He began wrestling at the age of seven and was encouraged to pursue the sport by his father. Punia grew up a rural area. His family did not have money for traditional sports. Instead, he had to partake in free sports like wrestling and Kabaddi. Punia’s father was a wrestler as well and at a young age, his family started him at a local mud wrestling school. Punia started to skip school to go to wrestling practice. In 2015, his family moved to Sonepat so that he can attend a regional centre of Sports Authority of India.
Currently, he works in Indian Railways on the post of Gazetted officer OSD Sports. Punia enjoys seeking out knowledge of his village elders.
| Born | Khudan, Jhahhar, Haryana |
| Sports | Wrestling, kabbadi |
| Started Wresling | 2015 |
| Medal in Olympic | Bronze Medal in 2020 Tokyo |
In 2020, Punia qualified for the Olympics in freestyle wrestling.[6]
He is married to fellow wrestler Sangita Phogat, who is one of the famed Phogat sisters.[7]
Bajrang Punia Studied in LPU
Career :
2013 Asian Wrestling Championships
In New Delhi, India, in the semi-final bout, Bajrang lost 3-1 to Hwang Ryong-hak of North Korea to
win the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 60 kg category.
In the Round of 16, he faced Shogo Maeda of Japan, beating him 3-1. His opponent in the quarter-finals
was Morad Hassan of Iran whom he beat 3-1 to qualify for the semi-finals.[8]
2013 World Wrestling Championships
In Budapest, Hungary, Bajrang won the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 60 kg category by qualifying for
the bronze medal bout through the repechage round. There, he met Enkhsaikhany Nyam-Ochir of Mongolia and beat him 9-2.
In the Round of 32, he faced Vladimir Dubov of Bulgaria who beat him 7-0. With the Bulgarian grappler
qualifying for the final bout, Bajrang then faced Shogo Maeda of Japan and earned a walkover. His next
opponent was Ivan Guidea of Romania, and with a 10-3 win over the Romanian, Bajrang earned a spot in the bronze medal bout.
2014 Commonwealth Games
In Glasgow, Scotland, he won the silver medal in the men’s freestyle 61 kg category, after losing 1-4 to David Tremblay of Canada.
In the Round of 16, Bajrang faced Sasha Madyarchyk of England and beat him 4-0. He faced Marno Plaatjies of South Africa in the quarter-finals and won 4-1. The Nigerian wrestler, Amas Daniel, was his opponent in the semi-finals and overcame him in a 3-1 scoreline.[9][10]
2014 Asian Games
In Incheon, South Korea, he won the silver medal in the Men’s freestyle 61 kg category, after losing 1-3 to Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran.
In the Round of 16, he faced Tuvshintulga Tumenbileg of Mongolia and beat him 3-1. His quarter-finals opponent was Farkhodi Usmonzoda of Tajikistan whom he beat 4-1 to qualify for the semi-finals. He was assured of a medal when he beat Noriyuki Takatsuka of Japan 4-1 in the semi-finals.[11]
2014 Asian Wrestling Championships
In Astana, Kazakhstan, Bajrang won the silver medal in the men’s freestyle 61 kg category, losing 0-4 to Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran.
In the Round of 16, Bajrang met Lee Seung-Chul of South Korea whom he beat 3-1. In the quarter-finals, he faced Noriyuki Takatsuka of Japan whom he beat 3-1 to qualify for the semi-finals. There he met Nazmandakh Lhamgarmaa of Mongolia whom he beat 3-1 to assure himself of a medal.[12]
2015 World Wrestling Championships
Unlike his fellow Narsingh Yadav, Bajrang wasn’t able to win a medal at the tournament in Las Vegas and finished 5th.[13]
In the Round of 32, he met Batboldyn Nomin of Mongolia who beat him 10-0. With the Mongolian qualifying for the final bout in the 61 kg category, Bajrang got a chance to contest in the Repêchage round. His first opponent in the repêchage round was Reece Humphrey of the USA whom he beat 6-0 easily. The second repêchage opponent was Beka Lomtadze from Georgia who put up a fight but was ultimately overcome 13-6 by the Indian. Unfortunately, he fell at the last hurdle, drawing the bronze medal bout 6-6 but his opponent Vasyl Shuptar of Ukraine, scoring the last point.[13]
Asian Wrestling Championship 2017
In 2017 May, he won a gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championship held at Delhi.[4]
Pro Wrestling League
Bajrang was the second acquisition of the JSW owned Bangalore franchise in the auction conducted in New Delhi. The wrestler was picked up for a sum of Rs 29.5 lakh.[14]
The Pro Wrestling League was scheduled to be held from 10 December to 27 December across six cities.[15]
2018 Commonwealth Games
In Gold Coast, Australia, he won the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 65 kg category. He overcame Kane Charig of Wales by Technical Superiority to clinch the gold.[16]
2018 Asian Games
On August 19, he won the Men’s freestyle 65 kg /Gold medal. He defeated Japanese Wrestler Takatani Daichi 11-8; the score was locked at 6-6 after the first round.[17][18]
2018 World Wrestling Championships
Bajrang won Silver at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships. After that Silver Medal, he claimed World No. 1 in 65 kg category.[19]
2019 World Wrestling Championships
Bajrang won Bronze for the second time at a World Championship, thereby qualifying India for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 65 kg freestyle wrestling event.
2020 Rome Ranking Series
On 18 January, Bajrang defeated Jordan Oliver 4-3 in the final in the 65 kg freestyle category at the Ranking Series.[20]
2021
In 2021, he won the gold medal in the 65 kg event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2021 held in Rome, Italy.[21]
2020 Tokyo Olympic
On 6 August 2021, he won the pre-quarterfinal match in 65 Kg category in 2020 Summer Olympics against Ernazar Akmataliev and his quarter-final match against Morteza Ghiasi Cheka.[22][23]
In the bronze medal match he dominated his opponent winning by a margin of 8-0.
International competitions
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World Championship
Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2019 2019 World Wrestling Championships Nur-sultan 65 kg Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ)
2018 2018 World Wrestling Championships Budapest 65 kg Takuto Otoguro (JPN)
2017 2017 World Wrestling Championships Paris France 65 kg 13th Zurabi Iakobishvili (GEO)
2016 2016 World Wrestling Championships Budapest 61 kg 9th Akhmednabi Gvarzatilov (AZE)
2015 2015 World Wrestling Championships Las Vegas 61 kg 5th Batboldyn Nomin (MGL)
2013 2013 World Wrestling Championships Hungry 60 kg Vladimir Dubov (BUL)
U23 World Championship
Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2017 2017 World U23 Wrestling Championships Bydgoszcz 65 kg Nachyn Kuular (RUS)
Asian Games
Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2018 2018 Asian Games Jakarta 65kg Daichi Takatani (JPN)
2014 2014 Asian Games Incheon 61kg Masoud Esmaeilpour (IRI)
Commonwealth Games
Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2018 2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast 65kg Kane Charig (WAL)
2014 2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow 61kg David Tremblay (CAN)
Asian Wrestling Championship
Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2021 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships Almaty 65kg Takuto Otoguro (JPN)
2020 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships New Delhi 65kg Takuto Otoguro (JPN)
2019 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships Xi’an 65kg Sayatbek Okassov (KAZ)
2018 2018 Asian Wrestling Championships Bishkek 65kg Daichi Takatani (JPN)
2017 2017 Asian Wrestling Championships New Delhi 65kg Seunghui Lee (KOR)
2016 2016 Asian Wrestling Championships Bangkok 65kg 10th Kum Su JON (PRK)
2014 2014 Asian Wrestling Championships Astana 61kg Masoud Esmaeilpour (IRI)
2013 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships New Delhi 60kg Yang Jae-hoon (KOR)
Olympics
Year Competition Venue Event Rank Opponent
2021 Tokyo Olympics 2020 Tokyo 65 kg Daulet Niyazbekov (Kazakhstan)
Punia is an Indian freestyle wrestler hailing from Haryana. He is currently ranked number 1 in the 65 kg weight category. He is the only Indian wrestler to have won three medals at the World Wrestling Championship .
