Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia to skip wrestling world championships due to injury
The Indian wrestler will undergo rehabilitation to treat a knee injury he picked up prior to Tokyo 2020. Bajrang Punia will be out of action for the rest of the year.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia will skip the upcoming wrestling world championships to be held in Oslo, Norway in October.
Bajrang has been advised a six-week-long rehabilitation to treat a ligament tear in his right knee which he had picked up in the lead up to Tokyo 2020.
Bajrang Punia, who won a bronze medal in the freestyle 65kg category at the last world championships in 2019, injured himself at the Ali Aliev wrestling meet in Russia a month before Tokyo 2020.
Bajrang said that he will not return to the mat before a thorough rehabilitation.
“The worlds was the only major championship in the calendar for this year,” Bajrang told PTI. “I don’t see myself competing in any other tournament this season.”
Bajrang Punia was recently in Mumbai to assess the extent of his injury and will undergo his rehabilitation under the guidance of Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the head of the Centre for Sports Medicine at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.
“I am doing it (rehabilitation) myself in Sonepat. Dr Dinshaw has advised a few exercises that I am doing every day now in the gym. The mat-training time will also go into the rehab,” Bajrang said.
The Wrestling Federation of India is set to hold trials for the world championships on August 31 in New Delhi.