Bajrang Punia cuts a sorry figure, storms out of wrestling arena after humiliating defeat

PTI

Hangzhou, October 6

Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia cut a sorry figure as he stormed out of the Asian Games wrestling arena after a humiliating defeat in the 65kg free-style third-place match here on Friday.

His hurried exit was in stark contrast to the other three Asian Games bronze-winning Indian grapplers who showed some contentment if not pure excitement.

Bajrang, who entered the Asian Games after getting exemption from the selection trials, suffered embarrassing defeats in his category to make a medal-less exit from Hangzhou.

However, Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Sonam Malik (65kg) and Kiran (76kg) clinched a bronze medal each.

After a defeat on technical superiority against Kaiki Yamaguhci of Japan, Punia refused to speak to the waiting media.

Punia did not even look at the media despite several requests for comments, hurrying out of the mixed zone ripping off his wrist wrap.

Looking distraught, Punia just slipped out, not willing to talk about what went wrong in his Asian Games campaign despite more than a month-long training in Issyk-kul in Kyrgyzstan.

An under-prepared Bajrang, who spent a major part of this year protesting against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, began the Asian Games with two easy wins but was clueless against the formidable Iranian Rahman Amouzadkhalili and Yamaguchi.

Vishal Kaliraman had won the Asian Games trials but the IOA ad-hoc panel, led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, had handed Bajrang a direct entry, a decision which invited criticism from the wrestling fraternity.

Sonam and Kiran sounded upbeat, while Aman lamented missing the final today.

“It's been a difficult year (due to injuries). After the Tokyo Olympics, I made a comeback this year. I wanted the medal under any circumstance and I got it,” said Sonam.

“But, I cried in the afternoon because I played badly in the semifinals against the North Korean (Hyongyong Mun) and could not reach the final,” she added.

Sonam said she knew the tactics of her bronze medal play-off opponent since they had met earlier. “It was a tough fight. I know how my opponent plays. I have played against this player in the Olympic qualifiers and I had won 3-2 then,” she said.

Kiran was relieved that she won a bronze medal after returning empty-handed from the 2018 Asian Games.

“I have been struggling since the Tokyo Olympics. My performance has been down since the time of COVID-19. So, the Asian Games was very important for me,” she said.

“My performance was not at all good in the 2018 Asian Games. I did not win a medal there.”

Kiran said her strategy was to attack from the start here. “Had I defended today, I would not have won bronze,” she said.

Aman, the U20 world champion, was a bit subdued and admitted having made some mistakes in his bout.

“I made some mistakes. I will improve on these. I have now won a medal in the Asian Games and I will start preparing for the Olympics,” he said.

“I was largely in control of the semifinal bout but in the middle section I gave away an extra point which was too much for me to recover from,” he said about his bout against Japan’s Toshihiro Hasegawa.

On Olympic medallist Ravi Dahiya competing in his weight category, Aman said, “It doesn't bother me because I am going to play my own game. I will train hard and do well in the upcoming events and the Olympics.”

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