Bajrang Punia

Bajrang Punia (born 26 February 1994) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. He has won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Punia is also a four-time medalist at the World Wrestling Championships, making him the first and only Indian wrestler to accomplish this feat. He is a multiple gold medalist at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Championships. He was the first Indian wrestler to achieve the World No.1 ranking and remains the only Indian to have held that position consistently for two years. For his achievements in wrestling, Punia has been honored with the Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, and Padma Shri.

Early life and background Punia was born in Khudan village, Jhajjar, Haryana, India. He began wrestling at the age of seven and was encouraged to pursue the sport by his father. Punia grew up in rural area. His family did not have money for traditional sports. Instead, he had to partake in free sports like Wrestling and Kabaddi. Punia's father was a wrestler as well and at a young age, his family enrolled him in a local mud wrestling school. Punia started to skip school to go to wrestling practice.

Political career On 7 September 2024, Punia joined Indian National Congress along with fellow wrestler Vinesh Phogat after meeting Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi just before the 2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly election. According to some political analysts, Punia and Phogat's entry in Congress was a boost for the party, which was aiming to consolidate Jat votes and capitalize on the anti-incumbency against the Haryana BJP in the 2024 state elections.

On 22 October 2024, Punia took charge as Working President of the All India Kisan Congress at the Congress party headquarters in the New Delhi in the presence of senior party leaders, including All India Kisan Congress National President, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Congress General Secretary Kumari Selja, former Union Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh, and newly elected party MLA and former wrestler Vinesh Phogat.

2013 World Wrestling Championships In Budapest, Hungary, Bajrang won the bronze medal in the men's freestyle 60 kg category by qualifying for the bronze medal bout through the repechage round. There, he met Enkhsaikhany Nyam-Ochir of Mongolia and beat him 9–2.

In the Round of 32, he faced Vladimir Dubov of Bulgaria who beat him 7–0. With the Bulgarian grappler qualifying for the final bout, Bajrang then faced Shogo Maeda of Japan and earned a walkover. His next opponent was Ivan Guidea of Romania, and with a 10–3 win over the Romanian, Bajrang earned a spot in the bronze medal bout.

2014 Commonwealth Games In Glasgow, Scotland, he won the silver medal in the men's freestyle 61 kg category, after losing 1–4 to David Tremblay of Canada.

In the Round of 16, Bajrang faced Sasha Madyarchyk of England and beat him 4–0. He faced Marno Plaatjies of South Africa in the quarter-finals and won 4–1. The Nigerian wrestler, Amas Daniel, was his opponent in the semi-finals and overcame him in a 3–1 score line.

2014 Asian Games In Incheon, South Korea, he won the silver medal in the Men's freestyle 61 kg category, after losing 1–3 to Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran.

In the Round of 16, he faced Tuvshintulga Tumenbileg of Mongolia and beat him 3–1. His quarter-finals opponent was Farkhodi Usmonzoda of Tajikistan whom he beat 4–1 to qualify for the semi-finals. He was assured of a medal when he beat Noriyuki Takatsuka of Japan 4–1 in the semi-finals.

2014 Asian Wrestling Championships In Astana, Kazakhstan, Bajrang won the silver medal in the men's freestyle 61 kg category, losing 0–4 to Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran.

In the Round of 16, he met Lee Seung-Chul of South Korea, whom he beat 3–1. In the quarter-finals, he faced Noriyuki Takatsuka of Japan, whom he beat 3–1 to qualify for the semi-finals. There he met Nazmandakh Lhamgarmaa of Mongolia whom he beat 3–1 to assure himself of a medal.

2015 World Wrestling Championships Unlike his fellow Narsingh Yadav, Bajrang was not able to win a medal at the tournament in Las Vegas and finished 5th.

In the Round of 32, he met Batboldyn Nomin of Mongolia who beat him 10–0. With the Mongolian qualifying for the final bout in the 61 kg category, Bajrang got a chance to contest in the Repêchage round. His first opponent in the repêchage round was Reece Humphrey of the USA whom he beat 6–0 easily. The second repêchage opponent was Beka Lomtadze from Georgia who put up a fight but was ultimately overcome 13–6 by the Indian. Unfortunately, he fell at the last hurdle, drawing the bronze medal bout 6–6 but his opponent Vasyl Shuptar of Ukraine, scoring the last point.

The Pro Wrestling League was scheduled to be held from 10 December to 27 December across six cities.

2018 Commonwealth Games In Gold Coast, Australia, he won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 65 kg category. He overcame Kane Charig of Wales by Technical Superiority to clinch the gold.

2018 Asian Games On 19 August, he won the Men's freestyle 65 kg /Gold medal. He defeated Japanese Wrestler Takatani Daichi 11–8; the score was locked at 6–6 after the first round.

2018 World Wrestling Championships Bajrang won Silver at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships. After that silver medal, he claimed World No. 1 in 65 kg category.

2019 World Wrestling Championships He won Bronze for the second time at a World Championship, thereby qualifying India for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 65 kg freestyle wrestling event.

2020 Rome Ranking Series

On 18 January, Bajrang defeated Jordan Oliver 4–3 in the final in the 65 kg freestyle category at the Ranking Series.

Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2021 In 2021, he won the gold medal in the 65 kg event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2021 held in Rome, Italy.

2021 Asian Wrestling Championships He clinched a silver medal at the 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships after losing to Takuto Otoguro in the final.

2020 Tokyo Olympics On 6 August 2021, he won the pre-quarterfinal match in 65 kg category in 2020 Summer Olympics against Ernazar Akmataliev and his quarter-final match against Morteza Ghiasi Cheka.

In the bronze medal match, he defeated the Kazakhstani wrestler Daulet Niyazbekov, winning by a margin of 8–0.

Bajrang and the other Indian Olympians were featured in a can by the Indian soft drink manufacturer, Thums Up.

2022 Commonwealth Games Bajrang clinched the gold medal with a dominating win over Canada's Lachlan McNeil in the 65 kg final bout at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

2024 In April 2024, Punia was suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for refusing to give his urine sample for a dope test during the selection trials of the 2024 Olympic qualifiers. Subsequently, he was also suspended by the wrestling global body, the United Wrestling World (UWW). Punia has gone to court and appealed against his suspension.

2026

He lost to Ridge Lovett in a Lightweight title eliminator at RAF 09 on May 30, 2026.

International competitions

World Championship

U23 World Championship

Asian Games

Commonwealth Games

Asian Wrestling Championship

Olympics

Record against opponents

Weight Players Matches Results Change WonLost65 kg Alejandro Valdés 1 1 0 +165 kg Takuto Otoguro 2 0 2 −265 kg Daichi Takatani 3 2 1 +165 kg Zurabi Iakobishvili 1 0 1 −161 kg Beka Lomtadze 1 1 0 +165 kg Batchuluuny Batmagnai 4 3 1 +265 kg Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga 2 2 0 +265 kg Batboldyn Nomin 1 0 1 −161 kg Enkhsaikhany Nyam-Ochir 2 1 1 065 kg Lee Seung-chul 3 3 0 +365 kg Daulet Niyazbekov 2 1 1 065 kg Ashirov Meirzhan 2 2 0 +265 kg Sayatbek Okassov 1 1 0 +165 kg Meisam Nassiri 2 1 1 065 kg Younes Emami 4 4 0 +465 kg Masoud Esmaeilpour 3 0 3 −365 kg Kim Kuk-gwang 1 1 0 +165 kg Viktor Rassadin 2 2 0 +265 kg Murshid Mutalimov 1 1 0 +165 kg Kurban Shiraev 1 1 0 +165 kg Nachyn Kuular 1 0 1 −165 kg Sirojiddin Khasanov 3 3 0 +365 kg Zain Retherford 2 1 1 065 kg Oliver Jordan 2 2 0 +265 kg Yianni Diakomihalis 2 0 2 −265 kg Gor Ogannesyan 2 2 0 +265 kg Vasyl Shuptar 1 1 1 065 kg Mustafa Kaya 2 1 1 065 kg Abdulqosim Fayziev 3 3 0 +3

Awards The President, Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Padma Shri Award to Punia at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, 2019.

Arjuna Award, 2015 Padma Shri Award, 2019 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, 2019 FICCI India Sports Award 2020

For winning the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics from the Government of India from the Government of Haryana from the Board of Control for Cricket in India from the Indian Olympic Association

Socio-political activism

Punia has been protesting against the alleged sexual harassment of female wrestlers by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Chief - Brij Bhushan Singh. The instances of sexual harassment ranged from 2012 to 2022. Punia has called on the public to show their support at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

Following a scuffle between wrestlers and Delhi police at Jantar Mantar, Punia expressed concern about the treatment of wrestlers and its implications for their careers, stating: