Bajrang Punia risked breaking a leg for Olympics bronze medal

While competing at the Tokyo Olympics, Bajrang Punia risked breaking his leg. He said he was ready to suffer a broken leg just so he could win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. In the end, a well-taken risk paid off as Bajrang won bronze in the 65kg weight category. On two separate occasions, in two different matches, Bajrang was seen heavily tapped, and then without any tapes. Bajrang played the bronze medal match without any tapes. Risking injury, he competed against Kazakhstan’s 2019 World Championships silver-medallist Dault Niyazbekov.

“My movements were very restricted on that first day because of the tapes which the physio had asked me to wear. But on the second day during the medal bouts, I decided I am not wearing any tape. It was the first time I was having to do anything like that. I normally never get injured before a tournament,” Bajrang told Aaj Tak at the Jai Ho conclave.

“The doctor said to wear it but I said it’s ok. The worst that can happen is that I will break my leg and will need surgery. It’s ok if there is a fracture, we will get surgery done, medal was the important thing. I wanted the medal because then I will have some success after all the hard work,” he said.

Ahead of the Games, Bajrang was faced with a right knee injury that resulted in him taking the practice slow, to work on recovery. He was competing in the semi-finals of the Ali Aliyev tournament in Russia against local wrestler Abulmazhid Kudiev.

He said that while he was nervous because of the injury, he never let pressure affect him during the Olympics.

“There are lots of (Indian) athletes who could not perform well and that is because of pressure. I try not to feel pressure. There was one time when I let that affect me and I just could not understand what I was doing and that day I decided I am not going to let myself be affected by pressure,” he said.

“I was nervous only because I was away from the mat for some time before that because of an injury. That was there in my mind, not the pressure of getting a medal. 65kg is the most competitive weight class in the world but I never thought that I cannot win a medal. In 65kg there is no clear favourite. Every category has a clear favourite but that is not the case with the 65kg category.”