Bajrang Punia bags silver in 65 kg category in World Wrestling Championship

NewsBharati    23-Oct-2018
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New Delhi, October 23: Bajrang Punia won India's first first medal at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships after losing in the final of the 65kg weight class to Japan's Takuto Otaguro in Budapest on Monday.


 

In what was a high scoring and attacking match, Bajrang was trailing from the start and had his work cut out by the end as he lost by a 9-16 margin. The 19-year-old Japanese grappler was the champion at the Cadet Worlds in 2015.

While Bajrang missed out on the opportunity to became the second Indian wrestler to win a gold medal at the World Championships after Sushil Kumar, he did become the only Indian grappler to win two World Championships medals – his first medal, a bronze, had come in Budapest itself at the 2013 edition.

“It was so near and yet so far,” the 24-year-old reacted after his defeat. “Having reached the final, I expected to win gold but I will have to be satisfied with a silver medal. I am happy to have bettered my bronze medal effort, achieved five years ago at the same venue."

It was, undoubtedly, one of the most aggressive finals at the championships. The Japanese grappler attacked from the word 'go', logging his first point on step out and then added a four-pointer thanks to a lift to surge to a 5-0 lead. But Bajrang, equally aggressive, got his first two points with a takedown and narrowed down the lead to 6-7 by the end of the first period.

But soon the balance tilted in favour of the Japanese who scored three points to go up 9-6 on a takedown and a step out. With time running out, the onus was on the Indian, who used all his tricks and force to go for the leg and upper body but the Japanese defended stoutly, including adopting ‘delayed tactics’.