Tokyo Olympics 2020: Indian stars to watch out for - Bajrang Punia

In the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020 wrestler Bajrang Punia is undoubtedly one of India's biggest medal hopes. In a recent virtual press conference, Bajrang mentioned that he is working on all aspects of his game. Interestingly, it will be Bajrang Punia's first Olympics. The youngster from Haryana is a big match player and  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. 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. Bajrang is seeded second in the 65kg weight category by United World Wrestling for Tokyo Olympics behind the top-seeded Russian Gadzhimurad Rashidov. The 27-year old, is also coming from a injury layoff after he hurt his knee during a match against Abulmazhid Kudiev in a tournament in Russia ahead of the showpiece event. In the last two years, Bajrang has competed in nine international tournaments and has ended up on the podium each time.