Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

Punia brings home bronze

- Rutvick Mehta rutvick.mehta@htlive.com

NEW DELHI: Standing on the podium step with his fellow bronze winner, Bajrang Punia picked up the medal from the tray, put it around his neck, and immediatel­y lifted it with both hands. He examined one side of the medal, then flipped it, and stared at it for a couple of seconds before letting it rest on his stomach.

It was not the medal — and indeed the position in which he was standing on the podium — that the star wrestler had envisioned before landing for the Tokyo Games. It was a medal nonetheles­s; a bronze in what was the 27-year-old’s first taste of the Olympics stage.

On Saturday, Punia showed his class and stamped his authority, beating Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan 8-0 to win the 65kg freestyle bronze medal bout. “I am not happy. This is not the result I had set out to achieve. Winning an Olympic medal is no mean achievemen­t but I can’t jump with joy with bronze,” he later said.

If Punia erred on the side of caution in the semi-final against Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev, he switched to attack mode against Niyazbekov.

NEW DELHI: Standing on the podium step with his fellow bronze winner, Bajrang Punia picked up the medal from the tray, put it around his neck, and immediatel­y lifted it with both hands.

He examined one side of the medal, then flipped it, and stared at it for a couple of seconds before letting it rest on his stomach.

It was not the medal — and indeed the position in which he was standing on the podium — that the star wrestler had envisioned before landing for the Tokyo Games. It was a medal nonetheles­s; a bronze in what was the 27-year-old’s first taste of the Olympics stage.

An uncharacte­ristically subdued Punia fought all his three bouts on Friday with a strapping on the right knee for an injury he picked up around a month ago. On Saturday evening, he walked into the mat without one.

The knee was unshackled; the wrestler unfettered. Punia showed his class and stamped his authority, beating Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan 8-0 to win the 65kg freestyle bronze medal bout.

Different Bajrang

It was a different Punia to the one that showed up in the semifinal barely 24 hours ago, outclassed by Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev 12-5 in a largely one-sided battle.

This was a lot like the Punia we’ve known in recent years; a lot like the Punia who entered the Olympics as the world No.1 and looked every bit like one in the months leading up to it while winning gold in the Rome Ranking Series and silver at the Asian championsh­ips; this was a lot like the Punia that was primed for glory at the Games as the only Indian wrestler to have delivered three medals at world championsh­ips.

“I am not happy. This is not the result I had set out to achieve. Winning an Olympic medal is no mean achievemen­t but I can’t jump with joy with bronze,” Punia was quoted as saying by PTI.

The bronze bout was a potentiall­y tricky one for the Indian. Niyazbekov is a two-time worlds medal winner.

The second was a silver in the 2019 edition in Nur-Sultan, where he defeated Punia in a high-tempered, high-scoring, close and controvers­ial semi-final contest. On Saturday, however, there was no controvers­y on who the dominant wrestler was.

If Punia erred on the side of caution in the semi-final against Aliev, he switched to attack mode against Niyazbekov. After a couple of minutes of sussing each other out, with Punia looking to find openings, he got his first point on account of the Kazakh’s passivity. Niyazbekov then had Punia in a headlock, but he got out of it neatly.

With 20 seconds on the clock for the first three minutes, Punia went for Niyazbekov’s legs, and moments later pushed, him out of the yellow zone with a clever change of direction to earn another point.

After the break, Punia continued to target the right leg of the Kazakh, who was defending well.

But Punia was orchestrat­ing all the attacks; Niyazbekov was busy thwarting them. At some point, the floodgates had to open. And they did.

Right leg again

Going for his susceptibl­e right leg again, Punia finally executed a take down for a 4-0 lead. Niyazbekov then tried to target Punia’s legs, but the Indian turned the move into a brilliant counter-attack, this time grabbing his rival’s left leg and collecting two points with under a minute left in the bout.

By then it was clear the tide had turned, and with two more points — again, by grabbing Niyazbekov’s right leg — Punia brought the medal to the shore.

It gave India its second medal from wrestling in Tokyo after Ravi Dahiya’s gutsy silver, matching the sport’s most productive showing at the 2012 London Games.

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 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? India’s Bajrang Punia competes against Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan during the men's freestyle 65kg bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.
GETTY IMAGES India’s Bajrang Punia competes against Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan during the men's freestyle 65kg bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.

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