Bajrang Punia happy to have won CWG 2022 gold playing his ‘pure, attacking recreation’ | Commonwealth Games 2022 News

NEW DELHI: ‘Injury, ‘restoration’, ‘gold medal’. These three phrases had been heard typically when the ground was opened for questions to Bajrang Punia. A day earlier, Bajrang efficiently defended his 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) wrestling gold.
He regarded visibly drained. “Abhi so ke utha hu,” he replied to a query if he celebrated. It was virtually like listening to somebody ending a routine work shift and catching up on some well-deserved sleep.
Bajrang conceded simply two factors on the way in which to his second Commonwealth Games within the 65kg weight class. But if somebody talked about the phrase ‘simple’ to him, his reply was fairly easy. “Nobody comes to the Commonwealth Games to lose.”

The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist made a really fascinating comparability between his two CWG gold medals. “In 2018 I did not have an Olympic medal, but I came here having won an Olympic medal.”
It means that, possibly someplace down the road, fame was at stake. And the Indian grapplers fought like that on the opening day of the wrestling occasion in Birmingham, with all six profitable medals, together with three golds won by Bajrang, Deepak Punia and Sakshi Malik.
Excerpts from a press convention TimesofIndia.com was invited to:
Your first response..
It feels good to repeat 2018. The weaknesses after the Olympics that had been there, I have improved on that.

Is the aggressive wrestler Bajrang lastly again?
I have all the time performed aggressive. People stated, “Olympics ke baad wo Bajrang dikhayi nahi deta (we haven’t seen the same Bajrang after the Olympics). I was working on that, as a player loses crucial ground because of injury. The 2-3 months of training after recovering from leg injuries has helped me improve. I know how attacking I played or how safe I played and will work on whatever deficiencies are left in my game.

Was there pressure?
There was no pressure. I just wanted to emulate my training in the competition. I have now played a lot of tournaments. I don’t take pressure that these are big Games or a championship. I just focus on giving my best.
How is this CWG gold different from the one you won in 2018 in the Gold Coast?
In 2018, when I won gold, I didn’t have an Olympic medal. This (in Birmingham) was new. I won an Olympic medal (in Tokyo), then fought through injury. So both have their own importance. And keeping the World Championships in mind, we knew we had to perform well.

What would you say to those who feel that competition is relatively easy at CWG?
If somebody says that the fights were easy, I won’t agree with that. In wrestling, we have to fight with the opponent’s power. Nobody comes to lose, but only to win, whatever medal it may be. We don’t know about the opponent beforehand, how he will fight or how well prepared he is. All that is decided on that mat.

What next from here?
In September there is the World Championships, then there is the Paris Olympics in 2024. But I am focused on the World Championships at the moment, though the big target is the Olympics. Like you need to take the stairs to go to the terrace, we have to take one tournament at a time. And what I couldn’t do in Tokyo (winning gold), I want to do in Paris.

Are you personally happy with your performance?
There are a lot of differences from earlier. I played attacking, played my natural wrestling style and succeeded. So I will try to enter the World Championships with the same form and win a medal there as well.