India's star wrestler Bajrang Punia won bronze medal in the men's 65 kg category at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade. Bajrang made a spirited comeback after trailing 0-6 against Puerto Rico's Sebastian Rivera to win the bout by 11-9.
Earlier, the Olympic bronze medallist suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of 23-year-old Yianni Diakomihalis of the USA. The quarter-final bout, Punia could not score a single point and lost the match by 0-10 (technical superiority).
In the pre quarter-finals, he defeated Cuba's Alejandro Enrique Valdes Tobier. He won the bout by 5-4 despite suffering a cut on his head which led to a five-minute halt.
This is Bajrang’s fourth medal at the world championships. Before the 28-year-old, Vinesh Phogat won a bronze medal in the women's 53kg category at the event as well. Both the wrestlers also won gold medal in respective categories at Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022.
This is Punia's third bronze medal at World Championships. The other two came in 2013 and 2019 whereas his only silver medal at the event came in 2018.
