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Bajrang Punia

About Bajrang Punia

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Who is Bajrang Punia

Bajrang Punia is an Indian freestyle wrestler hailing from Haryana. He is currently ranked number 2 in the 65 kg weight category. He is the only Indian wrestler to have won three medals at the World Wrestling Championship. He added an Olympic medal to his list after winning the bronze medal match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He defeated his opponent 8-0 in the play-off to secure his first Olympic medal. 

The 2020 Games was Punia's first Olympics and he was one of India's brightest propects for medals in Tokyo. 

He has performed well consistently for the past three years at major tournaments. He won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and silver and bronze at the 2018 and 2019 editions of the World Championship. He was among the eight Indian wrestlers who represented India at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
 

Bajrang Punia's early life

Born on February 26, 1994, Punia belongs to Khudan village of Jhajjar district in Haryana. He started wrestling at the age of 7 and was encouraged by his father, who was also a wrestler, to pursue the sport. In 2015, his family moved to Sonepat so that he could join the regional centre of the Sports Authority of India. He is currently employed by the Indian Railways.
 

Bajrang Punia's career

His first major tournament was the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi. He settled for bronze at the tournament after losing to North Korea’s Hwang Ryong-hak in the men’s freestyle 60-kg category. In the World Wrestling Championship 2013, Punia won a bronze medal in the 60-kg category. In 2014, Punia upgraded the colour of his medal to silver at the Commonwealth Games in the men’s 61-kg category. He repeated the performance in the 2014 Asian Games. Again, in 2014, Punia settled for a silver medal at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championship. At the 2015 World Wrestling Championship, he performed poorly and finished 5th in the tournament. He tasted his first gold medal, finally, after two years at the 2017 Asian Wrestling Championship held in Delhi. He won another gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the men’s freestyle 65-kg category. He scored his 3rd gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games. He became world number 1 in the 65-kg category after clinching a silver medal at the 2018 World Wrestling Championship. A bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship earned him a ticket to the 2020 Summer Olympics.

 
 

Latest Updates on Bajrang Punia

Catch all the latest updates from across the globe here

Updated On: 06 Mar 2023 | 10:11 PM IST

Wrestlers have been protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India. WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was accused of sexual misconduct and intimidation by the wrestlers

Updated On: 06 Mar 2023 | 6:46 AM IST

The Sports Ministry has extended by two weeks the deadline given to the Oversight Committee to submit its report on sexual harassment allegations against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

Updated On: 23 Feb 2023 | 5:29 PM IST

Live news updates: As per the schedule, the polling to the 60 Assembly constituencies will be held on February 16 and counting will take place on March 2

Updated On: 21 Jan 2023 | 11:41 AM IST

Prominent wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, have accused Singh of sexually exploiting women wrestlers 'for years'

Updated On: 20 Jan 2023 | 12:06 PM IST

On Wednesday, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik accused the WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharma of sexual harassment

Updated On: 18 Jan 2023 | 10:16 PM IST

Country's top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia and world championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, staged a protest against the "dictatorship" of national federation President

Updated On: 18 Jan 2023 | 2:22 PM IST

Out of the circuit as he is recuperating from a head injury, Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Bajrang Punia is missing being on the mat at the 36th National Games here

Updated On: 01 Oct 2022 | 7:27 PM IST

Olympic and World Wrestling Championships bronze medallist Bajrang Punia called on Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Saturday

Updated On: 01 Oct 2022 | 6:01 PM IST

Commonwealth gold medalist Bajrang Punia will miss out on the National Games 2022 owing to a head injury that he sustained in Belgrade during the World Championships earlier this month

Updated On: 24 Sep 2022 | 7:23 PM IST

Ace grappler Bajrang Punia became the only Indian to claim four medals at the World Wrestling Championships by clinching a bronze in the current edition

Updated On: 19 Sep 2022 | 6:43 AM IST

Ace grappler Bajrang Punia became the only Indian to claim four medals at the World Wrestling Championships by clinching a bronze in the current edition, here on Sunday

Updated On: 18 Sep 2022 | 11:26 PM IST

The athletes showed that India can look beyond Shooting. India, with 61 medals including 22 gold at Birmingham 2022 surprised all by winning in events where not even the ardent fans believed it could

Updated On: 10 Aug 2022 | 8:27 PM IST

India has jumped to the fifth spot at CWG 2022 as Indian wrestlers proved their mettle on Day 8. Read this article to know everything about India's Day 9 schedule at Commonwealth Games 2022

Updated On: 06 Aug 2022 | 10:45 AM IST

Canada's Lachlan Maurice McNeil fought well against Bajrang but the Indian was far superior in technique and stamina.

Updated On: 05 Aug 2022 | 11:23 PM IST

The huge gulf between the class of India's top wrestlers and their rivals was evident as four of them, including superstar Bajrang Punia, stormed into the finals at the Commonwealth Games

Updated On: 05 Aug 2022 | 9:42 PM IST

India's hope lies on the women's hockey team and freestyle wrestlers to bag some more medals on the eighth day of CWG 2022 Birmingham. Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia enters quarterfinals on Day 8.

Updated On: 05 Aug 2022 | 4:33 PM IST

Commonwealth Games 2022 Day 8 Highlights: Indian wrestling contingent performed exceptionally, winning six medals which included 3 gold, 1 silver and two bronze. Women's hockey lost controversially

Updated On: 06 Aug 2022 | 3:07 AM IST

In absence of the shooters, here are the top ten individual sportspersons from India who are going to be the showstoppers at Birmingham 2022. The list obviously includes Neeraj Chopra

Updated On: 21 Jul 2022 | 8:56 PM IST

Here is a list of players and teams that could be prospective gold medal winners for India in the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022, which begin on July 28, 2022, in Birmingham, England

Updated On: 21 Jul 2022 | 9:00 PM IST