Belgrade: Ace Indian wrestler and Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia bagged the bronze medal in the men’s 65 kg category at the ongoing World Wrestling Championship by defeating Puerto Rico’s Sebastian C Rivera.
He defeated Rivera in the bout by 10-9. The wrestler, who recently won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games scripted a remarkable comeback to win the match. He won on the basis of VPO1-Points and the opponent’s scores.
In the initial stages of the match, Punia looked down and out, trailing by 0-6. But then he fought his way back into the match, scoring 11 points and letting his opponent score only three more.
He made his way back into medal contention after a loss to USA’s John Michael Diakomihalis in the quarterfinal by 10-0, on the basis of Victory by Superiority (VSU).
A hard-fought 7-6 win over Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia took him to the bronze medal match. He achieved the win on the basis of VPO1- Points and the opponent’s scores.
This is Punia’s fourth medal at the Championships, starting his journey with bronze in 2013. He went on to win silver in the 2018 Championships and followed it with another bronze in 2019. Now, he has four championship medals. The championships started on September 10 and will end on September 18.