CWG 2022: Bajrang Punia wins India's first gold medal in wrestling at Commonwealth Games

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has added another gold medal to Team India’s tally at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on Friday. The 28-year-old earned a victory by a margin of 9-2 against Lachlan McNeil of Canada in the Men’s Freestyle 65kg final and took India’s medal tally at CWG 2022 to 22. While India ended Day 7 with 20 medals, which included six gold and seven silver medals, Anshu Malik won the silver medal in the women’s Freestyle 57kg final to open the medal tally on Friday. 

Bajrang Punia’s journey in CWG 2022, leading up to gold medal win

Punia started his campaign at the ongoing quadrennial showpiece event with a fall win over Nauru’s Lowe Bingham in the Men's Freestyle Wrestling 65 kg - 1/8 Final. He ended the bout with 1:47 minutes after Punia earned the victory by fall. Bajrang continued his winning in the quarterfinals with an even better win against Jean Bandou of Mauritius that lasted only for a minute. 

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 bronze medallist earned a 5-0 victory by fall against Bandou and stormed into the semi-final. He then faced George Ramm of England in the 65kg semi-final and went on to win by technical superiority without any point scored by the opponent. Courtesy of the 4-0 win, he fixed his place in the gold medal match against Canada’s Lachlan McNeil.

India eyes more gold medals in Weightlifting on Day 8 of CWG 2022

While Bajrang picked the gold in the 65kg final, India is yet to play two other gold medal matches in weightlifting on Friday. India’s Deepak Punia in the 86kg category, and Sakshi Malik in the women’s 62kg category are other medal prospects in wrestling for India. At the same time, Divya Kakran plays the bronze medal match in the 68kg category.

A look at the Bajrang Punia’s decorated wrestling career

It is pertinent to mention that this was the third medal and second gold for the 28-year-old at the Commonwealth Games, as he picked up medals in the previous two editions. Competing in the 61kg category in his CWG debut, Punia earned a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. During the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Bajrang competed in the 65kg category and claimed the gold medal.

Interestingly, Bajrang is the only Indian wrestler to win three medals for the country in the World Championships. His most celebrated achievement to date is the bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He is also an eight-time Asian Championships medallist and a two-time Commonwealth Championships gold medal winner. 

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