New Delhi [India]: Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur congratulated ace Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia for clinching a bronze medal in the World Wrestling Championships 2022 held in Belgrade, Serbia.
Ace Indian wrestler and Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia captured a bronze medal in the men’s 65 kg category at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships 2022, by defeating Puerto Rico’s Sebastian C Rivera in the bronze medal bout.
“Bajrang Punia shows his sporting class again!! He has bagged his 4th medal at the Senior World Wrestling Championships with a bronze in the 2022, Belgrade edition. Congratulations Champ!!,” said the minister in a tweet.
He defeated Rivera in the bout by 11-9.
The wrestler, who recently won a gold medal in Commonwealth Games scripted a remarkable comeback to win the match. He won on basis of VPO1-Points and the opponent’s scores.
In the initial stages of the match, Punia looked down and out, trailing by 0-6. But then he fought his way back into the match, scoring 11 points and letting his opponent score only three more.
He made his way back into medal contention after a loss to USA’s John Michael Diakomihalis in the quarterfinal by 10-0, on basis of Victory by Superiority (VSU).
A hard-fought 7-6 win over Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia took him to the bronze medal match. He achieved the win on basis of VPO1- Points and the opponent’s scores. This is Punia’s fourth medal at the Championships, starting his journey with bronze in 2013. He went on to win silver in the 2018 Championships and followed it with another bronze in 2019. Now, he has four championship medals.
This is India’s second medal at the ongoing edition of the World Wrestling Championships.
Indian wrestler and Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medalist Vinesh Phogat captured a bronze medal in the women’s 53 kg category at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships 2022 in Belgrade on Wednesday, defeating reigning European champion Emma Malmgren from Sweden.
The three-time CWG gold medalist overpowered her Swedish opponent to win the match 8-0.
The championships started on September 10 and wil end on September 18. (ANI)
