Exclusive: ‘Complete focus on my wrestling career, coach Shako wasn’t pushed out’ – Bajrang Punia on his comeback after injury, the Olympic bronze & more | More sports News – Times of India

SONEPAT: August 7, 2021. Bajrang Punia, debilitated and frustrated by his knee injury, was warming up for his 65kg freestyle bronze-medal bout. It was the biggest stage of them all — the Olympics. He had landed in Tokyo virtually on one leg, carrying a knee injury he suffered in Russia barely a month or so before the Games. But his valor had shone through in the Japanese capital.
Bajrang, though, lost in the semis to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev. Now, it was either an Olympic medal or an agonizing wait of another three years. With that playing on his mind, Bajrang virtually decided to put his career on the line. “Remove the (knee) brace for now, we’ll take care of the injury later,” he told the physio.
Summoning every inch of his energy reserves, Bajrang beat Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov 8-0 to win an Olympic bronze medal. But the effort took its toll, on his knees.
For more than six months after that, Bajrang had to be in rehab mode, and returned only late last month for the selection trials ahead of the Asian Championships beginning April 19.
Ahead of his departure for the tournament in Mongolia, TimesofIndia.com visited the Sports Authority of India centre in Sonepat, where Bajrang was part of the national camp for the Indian men’s wrestling team.
A candid Bajrang sat down for an exclusive interview with TimesofIndia.com on the sidelines of the arena , taking questions on his life on and around the mat, and also on what it’s like to be a newly-married man (Bajrang married wrestler Sangeeta Phogat of the famed Phogat wrestling family in November 2020).

(Photo: Times Internet)
Excerpts…
It’s good to see you back on the mat…
Of course, it’s a great feeling. Very happy that I will be returning to the mat fully prepared. Training is going absolutely fine. During the Olympics, the (right) knee was injured; then later the other one got injured as well. But now I am fully fit and focused on the Asian Championships.
Before Covid shredded the global sports calendar, you were in top form. But the Tokyo Olympics were delayed by a year, then you picked up a knee injury, but still ended up with a bronze at the Games. How do you see things from here on panning out for you?
The form I was in during 2018 and since the (knee) injury after that, I have seen ups and down in my career. But I am coming back to that (form). This (Asian Championships) is going to be my first international tournament since the Tokyo Olympics, and I will try to come up with my best performance.
Any specific areas of improvement you are targeting here at the national camp in Sonepat?
We are working on overall improvement, on all the weak points in my wrestling, including leg defence. My leg defence has improved. But the thing is that I am an attacking wrestler and when I attack, my opponent attacks as well. If I play a defensive game, then I too can save my leg (from getting caught). Every wrestler has his own style, some wrestle on right leg (forward), some on left, some on both. My coaches have always said ‘attack is the best defence’. That’s the basis of my training.
How is Bajrang the ‘attacking wrestler’ settling down into married life?
(Laughs) You too understand that very well, you are also married. It doesn’t take any guessing that at home the ‘home minister’ is always the wife. It’s a different life with your life partner.

(Twitter Photo)
With Sangeeta being a wrestler herself, do you both share any common goals?
Of course, we both want to continue representing the country and do well. She too is in the India camp currently (for women wrestlers in Lucknow). Ahead of the Asian Championships, she had a knee injury and underwent three surgeries.
Coming back to life on the mat, you are now attached to coach Sujeet Maan, after being with Shako Bendinitis for almost four years. How different is it working with an Indian coach?
Indian coaches are not inferior in any way. They too know about all the aspects of training. That’s why I decided to work with an Indian coach now. Sujeet is with me personally and also looking after the camp. Before 2018 also I was working with an Indian coach. In the camp we have our chief coach Jagmender, Sujeet Maan, Vinod, Suresh, Balwant. All are good coaches. I have good bonding with all of them. It depends on how much interest the player is willing to learn with.
As far as Shako is concerned, he was a good coach. But he had a contract only until the Tokyo Olympics. When it got postponed by a year, then Shako’s contract too was extended. But it’s not true that he was pushed out after that. I was with Shako for more than four years. I benefited the maximum I could from that association. Now I am with a new coach (Sujeet Maan).
Your return to the mat during the selection trials was also marred with a controversy around you having to go through rehabilitation without a physiotherapist…
It was not a controversy at all. During the selection trials, I was asked how my knee injury was and how I was doing my rehab. I replied that I am doing it by myself, I don’t have a physio. After the Olympics, I didn’t have a physio. I requested JSW, and they said that they can’t give it directly to the player. Then I approached the federation.
WFI did provide me with a physio, but just after a week of that, he tragically died of a heart attack, a mere 26-27 year old boy. So this news that Bajrang doesn’t have a physio was hyped by the media. Even the Sports Authority of India said they are working on this requirement of mine.

(Photo: Times Internet)
I don’t exactly know what was happening, but for the last few months, I was doing rehab on my own. Maybe I would have recovered in 2-3 months if I had a proper physio working with me at that time. That was a long period, and then when I returned to training, my other knee got injured. But at that time I had a physio, so it got properly looked into and taken care of.
Do you still rue the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, as you were in better form in 2020 and didn’t have the knee injury?
The downside of the postponement of the Olympics by a year was that we could have performed better in 2020. I was not injured at that time. But I take things positively. No point in thinking about the ifs and buts of what’s behind us now. The other way to look at that postponement is that the next Olympic cycle (until Paris 2024) was cut down to three years.
Is that reduced Olympic cycle an advantage for you?
Wrestling is a contact sport where you may get injured during training or during a tournament. It’s a big challenge to keep yourself fit. After the Asian Championships, there’s the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games. To lose weight after every competition and then maintain your performance is a huge challenge. Olympic qualifications will begin next year, there is the world championship as well. So the focus is to remain fit in these two or two and a half years left before the Paris Olympics.

(Photo: Times Internet)
Has the COVID-19 fear eased a little, you think, for sportspersons?
Yes, the fear related to Covid-19 has eased a bit. The players and most of the citizens are now vaccinated, there is also relief in rules and restrictions when you are out. This is the first time that you guys (media) are visiting the SAI Sonepat centre since Covid struck. (But) Safety is a must, not just against Covid-19 but any form of illness and injury. Our coaches say that if we miss one day of training, it pulls your fitness back by a week. On top of that, if it’s due to illness, it can harm us more.
On a concluding note, have you set yourself any family goals yet?
Right now I don’t have any family goals. My complete focus is on my wrestling career at the moment. The responsibility my country has put on my shoulders, first I want to fulfill that. There is a whole life in front of me to spend with the family.