Wrestler Bajrang Punia gave India its sixth medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as he won the bronze medal in the men's wrestling freestyle 65kg division on Saturday (August 7).
Bajrang defeated Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov 8-0 to secure the bronze medal. He is the sixth Indian wrestler to clinch a medal at the Olympics after KD Jadhav (bronze, 1952), Sushil Kumar (bronze, 2008 and silver, 2012), Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze, 2012), Sakshi Malik (bronze, 2016) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver, 2020).
This is the second time after 2012 London Olympics that India has won two wrestling medals at a single edition of the Olympics.
On Friday (August 6), Azerbaijan's Haji Aliyev defeated Bajrang 12-5 in the semis. But the Indian wrestler’s dominant performance in the freestyle 65kg category ensured fourth bronze for his country at this Olympics after PV Sindhu (badminton), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing) and the men's hockey team.
For his heroics, Bajrang Punia received rich praise from the Indian cricket fraternity on Twitter.
Here are the tweets:
India has also won two silvers at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics so far, courtesy Mirabai Chanu (weightlifting) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (wrestling).
