Bajrang Punia on Friday shattered every doubt that people had about him by winning his second CWG gold in the most dominating fashion in Birmingham.
Before the tournament, there was a lot of talk about Bajrang’s approach. Many called his defending tactics a little shady. And that he needed to move out of his trenches.
Some doubters even questioned if Punia would be able to retain his gold. The 28-year-old proved everyone wrong by beating the Lachlan McNeil of Canada in the finals by 9-2. It was a good contest because the Canadian was the only player in the tournament who could take points away from Punia.
Bajrang Punia bags iconic gold
Punia started his CWG campaign against Narau’s lowe Bingham, whom he defeated in the opening bout. Then he moved on to Jean Guyliane of Mauritius in the quarterfinals and beat him by 6-0.
In the semis, he defeated George Ramm of England with technical superiority.
Bajarang did not lose a single point until the final against the Canadians. Even in the final, he was unfazed by the opponent and managed to win the game with a margin of 7 points.
With this victory, he reclaimed or defended the gold he won in the same tournament four years ago. Now he has 3 medals in as many Commonwealth Games. He won his maiden Silver in 2014 and has doubled it up in coming tournaments.
Apart from Bajarang, India managed two other golds in the sport. First, Sakshi Malik won gold in the women’s 62 kgs category. And later, Deepak Punia got gold against Pakistan in the 78 kg final.
These victories bring India’s tally of gold in CWG 2022 to 9. They have 23 medals to their name and currently rank in the fifth position.
