Bajrang Punia out of Paris Olympics Race: Embarrassing defeat leaves him in anger, skips doping test
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In a not-so-shocking development, "wrestler" Bajrang Punia suffered an embarrassing defeat after he lost in the selection trials for the national team resulting in elimination from the race for the Paris Olympics qualification on Sunday.
Bajrang Punia, who was busy doing everything but wrestling was beaten by 1-9 in the men's freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar. The following defeat was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria) in the opening round. Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself if Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout.
Notably, for the trials, Punia had trained in Russia, which is being organized by the IOA ad-hoc panel. The winners at the ongoing selection trials will get the opportunity to compete at the Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers. So far, India has earned only one quota for the Paris Games through Antim Panghal (women’s 53kg).
Arrogance or ???
— BhikuMhatre (Modi's Family) (@MumbaichaDon) March 11, 2024
After losing PATHETICALLY to Rohit Kumar, “पेल" वान Bajrang Punia left SAI Centre in haste, inspite of National Anti-Doping Agency officials tried to collect sample for a dope test.
Wondering why🤔
Poetic Justice👇
Rohit Kumar who defeated Bajrang Punia, lost… pic.twitter.com/HROCrjpa61
His defeat against Kumar by a huge margin suggests that the wrestler has failed to regain fitness since he has largely been engaged in protest, not practice. Following the defeat, Kumar said that there was no strength in Bajrang Punia this time. He said that the last time he fought against Bajrang Punia, he looked very strong and fast but this time it was not so.
Angered by this crushing defeat, Punia left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Haryana's Sonipat left the stadium. Though the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials tried to collect a sample for a dope test from Punia he did not stay back even for the third-fourth place bout.
It is worth noting that wrestler Rohit Kumar who defeated Bajrang Punia lost to Sujeet Kalakal in the final match. Interestingly, Kalakal contested the decision to grant Punia direct access to the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games without trials in court last year. However, he lost the case.
In July last year, the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea filed by ace wrestlers Antim Panghal and Sujeet Kalakal. The plea had challenged the exemption granted to wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat which allowed their direct entry into the Asian Games. In an interview last year, wrestlers Vishal Kaliraman and Antim Panghal said that while she was working hard and training, wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat were busy in protests while raising questions over ‘trial-free entry to Phogat and Punia in the Asian Games.