Indian Sportsman Bajrang Punia

 

Born in Haryana, Bajrang Punia is a freestyle wrestler from India. This 20-year old promising Indian sports person started wrestling at the age of seven. Punia was trained at the regional center of Sports Authority of India (SAI) located in Sonepat. He participates in the 65 kg wrestling category and is the winner of three medals at the World Wrestling Championship.  Bajrang's first international victory was in 2013 when he won the bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championship after which he won many medals at the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, and several other tournaments.

Childhood Days

Hailing from a small village in the Jhajjar district of Haryana, Punia was encouraged by his father to venture into the avenue of sports. Not having enough money to receive training in sports like cricket or tennis, he started to take part in free sports like wrestling and Kabaddi. Initially having the hope of playing Kabaddi for Haryana Punia eventually became more adept at the game of wrestling.

A professional Indian Wrestler, Bajrang's father, Balvant Singh Punia, began his son's training at a local mud wrestling school. Soon his family shifted to Sonepat so that he could receive better training at SAI. From his early childhood days, Punia would follow the moves and techniques of famous wrestlers and work on his strength and agility. Growing up in a poor family, these wrestling stalwarts were his superheroes, his only inspirations.

Punia was greatly inspired by the famous Indian sports personality, Yogeshwar Dutt, who is an Olympic medalist in wrestling. His path to glory began on a prosperous note as he won the bronze in 2013 at the World Championship, Budapest. He continued to win yet another bronze at the Asian Championship 2013, and a silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, 2014. In 2015, Punia was honored with the Arjuna Award for his contribution to the game of wrestling. Currently, this young sports talent also works for the Indian Railway to provide support to his family.

In the Spotlight

Inspired by Yogeshwar Dutt who later became one of his mentors, Bajrang Punia has laid a flourishing career in wrestling. In the 2013 Asian Wrestling championships held in New Delhi, Punia represented India for the first time. Even though he lost the game, in the same year the freestyle wrestler bagged the bronze at the World Wrestling Championships.

In the next year, Bajrang's unmatched skills and technique in the game fetched him the Silver medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, 2014. Punia's career in sports has seen an upward rise ever since as he kept winning medals for the nation. Punia next won a Gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Championship in Singapore.

In the 2017 India Asian Wrestling Championship held in New Delhi, this famous Indian sportsperson won the gold medal earning accolades for himself. The next year, in the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia he won the gold medal by competing in the under 65kg freestyle wrestling category. 2018 won him yet another gold at the Asian Games, where he defeated Takatani Daichi.

Success Story

Not being born in a prosperous family, Bajrang's climb to success was filled with hardships indeed. However, he always had the strength and support of his family to walk on the path of his ambitions. Bajrang Punia with his flourishing accomplishments has become the role model for youngsters in the nation. Not only does he have to devote long hours to the practice of his game, but Punia also dutifully does his job at the Indian Railway.

After winning the bronze in 2013, Punia has put in even more dedication to his practice, determined to win all the other tournaments that he eventually took part in, and performed incredibly too. Throughout his victories and achievements, Punia is known to have been a humble man and has always strived towards improvement, an inherent trait of every true winner.

In the Pro Wrestling League that was spread across six cities, Bajrang fetched at Rs. 29.5 lakh, and the wrestler was picked by the JSW owned Bangalore franchise. On 18th January 2020, Bajrang emerged victorious over Jordan Oliver in the 65kg freestyle category of the Rome Ranking Series and became one of the great contemporary sports personalities of India, in the game of wrestling.

The Future

In 2019 Bajrang once again won a bronze at the World Championships, for a second time. This led to his much-deserved selection for the Tokyo Olympics, 2020 in the 65kg freestyle wrestling event. But as circumstances continue to pose threat because of the COVID 19 pandemic, we are yet to witness Punia's feat in the event. The sports icon has also donated his six month's salary to Haryana's COVID relief fund.

However, Punia is in constant touch with his Georgian coach, who instructs him online. Thus this famous sports personality of India is keeping himself physically and psychologically fit to pick up where he left off, once the game commences for him.