Bajrang Punia

Bajrang Punia is an Indian Wrestler born on 26th February 1994. He hails from Khudan village in Haryana’s Jhajjar district. He represents India in the 65 kg category. Bajrang Punia won a bronze medal in Tokyo Olympics. Punia is well-known in the Indian wrestling fraternity.

Bajrang Punia - Early Life , Family & Background

Bajrang Punia was born to Balvan Singh Punia and Om Pyari Punia. Punia is the youngest among his 3 siblings. He belongs to the Jat family in the Jhajjar district of Haryana.

Bajrang Punia comes from a poor family. His father couldn’t afford traditional sports as it costs lots of money, instead, he chose to give try hands-on free sports like wrestling and Kabaddi. At the age of 7, Bajrang Punia decided to take up wrestling after he was encouraged by his father.

Punia’s father Balvin Singh himself is a wrestler and he put Bajrang in mud wrestling school. Bajrang would skip school to go to wrestling practice. In 2015, Bajrang Punia’s family shifted to Sonepat for him to attend a regional centre of the Sports Authority of India.

Bajrang Punia is working as Gazetted Officer OSD Sports in Indian Railways.

Bajrang Punia Biography

Bajrang Punia made an impact in his wrestling career as soon as he got on the international stage. Bajrang has been representing India internationally since 2013, starting with Asian Wrestling Championships. Bajrang Punia was seen as the next big thing in Indian Wrestling after Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt.

Punia is a part of the Pro Wrestling League. Bangalore Yoddha brought him for 29.5 lakhs in 2015 and in 2019 he was picked by Punjab Royals for 30 lakhs.

Bajrang Punia Achievements

Bajrang Punia won his 1st International medal by clinching Bronze at the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships held in Delhi. Bajrang was defeated by North Korea’s Hwang Ryong-hak in the semi-final which forced him to settle for Bronze. Later in that year, Punia won another Bronze Medal at the 2013 World Wrestling Championships by defeating Enkhsaikhany Nyam-Ochir in the Bronze medal match.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Bajrang Punia won his 1st International Silver medal after he lost to Canada’s David Tremblay. In that same year, Punia settled for a Silver medal at the Asian Games after he was defeated by Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran in the final. Punia won the 3rd Silver medal at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championships by losing to Iran’s Masoud Esmaeilpour.

Bajrang Punia didn’t make any impact at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships as he finished 5th. Punia’s 1st international Gold came in 2016 when he competed at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships held in Singapore. He defended his Gold medal in 2017.

In 2017, Bajrang Punia won a Gold and a Silver at the Asian Wrestling Championships and U23 World Wrestling Championships, respectively. Punia won a Silver medal in the 65 kg Category. Following year, Bajrang Punia won 2 Gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Asian Games. Punia’s Silver medal at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships was special as it ranked him World No.1 in the 65 Kg category.

In 2019, at the World Wrestling Championships, Bajrang won a Bronze medal and thereby paving the way to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Punia is one of the medal hopes in Wrestling at the Olympics.