Bajrang Punia becomes first Indian to win four medals at Worlds

Belgrade, September 18

Bajrang Punia created history after he secured a bronze medal here today to become the first Indian wrestler to win four medals at the World Championships.

Bajrang, who won a bronze in last year’s Tokyo Olympics, eked out an 11-9 win over Sebastian C Rivera of Puerto Rico in one of the bronze medal bouts in the 65kg category.

Bajrang, who lost to John Michael Diakomihalis of USA in the quarterfinals, qualified for the bronze medal contest through the repechage round. He defeated Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia 7-6 before taking down Rivera.

Bajrang had earlier won bronze in 2013, silver in 2018 and bronze in 2019.

Despite fielding a 30-member team at the ongoing edition, India secured just two medals. Earlier, Vinesh Phogat had won her second World Championships bronze medal in the women’s 53kg category. After losing her opening bout, Vinesh made full use of her second chance in the repechage round, defeating Emma Malmgren of Sweden 8-0 in the bronze medal playoff.

The biggest shock was the early ouster of Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Kumar Dahiya, who failed to secure a podium finish.