Bajrang Punia clinches Bronze medal at Tokyo Olympics; Bollywood congratulates wrestler

On Saturday, August 8 2021, Bajrang Punia clinched Bronze for the country giving India its 6th medal at the Tokyo Olympics as he defeated Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov by 8-0 in the men's 65kg freestyle bout. With this win, Punia has become the second wrestler to reach the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. Before Punia, the Indian wrestler at Olympics, Ravi Dahiya had settled for a silver medal when he was defeated by the two-time wrestling world champion, Zavur Uguev from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) by 7-4 in the final of 57kg freestyle category. As soon as Punia secured the bronze medal, many Bollywood celebrities took to their social media handles to celebrate the victory.

Bollywood reacts as Bajrang Punia wins bronze

As Bajrang Punia ensures India its 6th medal, many Bollywood actors and filmmakers took to their social media sites to share their joy. Coolie No. 1 hero Varun Dhawan took to his Instagram handle and dropped Punia's picture on his IG story to celebrate the win. Table No. 21 star Rajeev Khandelwal also took to his Twitter handle and celebrated the victory. He wrote, "What a win! #BajrangPunia and what a display of humility at the end. A true Indian spirit."

Highway star Randeep Hooda also posted several pictures and a video featuring Punia and lauded the wrestler. He tweeted, "जय बजरंग बली !!! And probably Christ too (the coach kissing his talisman) कज़ाकि भई का तै भरोट्टा सा भर दिया।बजरंग पुनिया भई तू देश की शान सै, विश्व चैम्पीयन सै (Bajrang Punia, you are the pride of India, world champion). A Gold Medal player who just has one bad bout and got a #Bronze #BajrangPunia @BajrangPunia '#Olympics' '#wrestling.'"

Sardaar Gabbar Singh actor Kabir Duhan Singh took to the micro-blogging site and tweeted, "This is our Bajrang The picture describes itself. Bajrang knows very well how to be a human with the game. I am proud of my brother '#BajrangPunia' '#Tokyo2020.'" Nivin Pauly penned, "Congratulations @BajrangPunia! What a debut at the '#Olympics'. You have made us proud! '#TeamIndia' '#Wrestling' '#Cheer4India' '#Tokyo2020' '#Olympics2020.'" Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar wrote, "Heartiest congratulations to @BajrangPunia on winning Bronze in Men's freestyle Wrestling 65 kg category. Super proud of you. '#JaiHind.'"

India at Olympics

India till now has secured six medals in wrestling at the Olympics. Wrestler KD Jadhav became India's first wrestler, who won the first individual Olympic medalist when he ensured a bronze medal during the 1952 Helsinki Games. Later, Sushil Kumar went on to win a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games and bettered the colour by claiming silver in 2012 at London Olympics. With the recent win, India has equalled their best ever result at a single Olympics. 

IMAGE: RANDEEP HOODA/ VARUN DHAWAN INSTA/ PTI