Bajrang Punia takes inspiration from Mesut Ozil; sends a message on food wastage
Ace Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia will make his maiden appearance at the Olympics in Tokyo 2020.
Star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has cited the example of German footballer Mesut Ozil to send a message against food wastage.
Punia, who has been seeded second in 65kg category at Tokyo 2020, shared an incident that Ozil faced during his Arsenal days on his Twitter handle.
He put forward an example of Ozil, who has played for the likes of Real Madrid and Arsenal, respectfully dealing with food thrown at him during a game.
"This is German footballer Mesut Ozil. He is one of the best footballers in the world. During a match someone had thrown a piece of bread over him and rather than kicking it aside in anger, Ozil kissed it and placed it on his forehead, before keeping it on the sidelines because he is against food wastage," translates the message, originally written in hindi, on his picture.
The incident took place during Arsenal's 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final at the Emirates stadium in 2018 after the away fans threw a piece of bread on the attacking midfielder.
Ozil's gesture was to show gratitude for being given the piece of food which was greeted by a large cheer from the home fans.
And Punia recalled it to spread a strong message. He is a strong medal contender for India at Tokyo 2020, slated to get underway from July 23, and has been training hard under the watchful eyes of his Georgian coach Shako Bentinidis.
The 27-year-old is one of the four Indian wrestlers, apart from Vinesh Phogat, Deepak Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya, to be seeded for the upcoming Olympic Games.
The wrestling events will run from August 1 to 7 at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Tokyo 2020.