Bajrang Punia wins gold as India end Rome Ranking Series with 8 medals

Bajrang Punia wins gold as India end Rome Ranking Series with 8 medals

Bajrang Punia

Bajrang Punia

Indian wrestling ace Bajrang Punia delivered when the chips were stacked against him to clinch gold at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series in Rome. Punia stunned his opponent by producing a trademark late comeback to take the win from the jaws of defeat. With the win, the 27-year-old also made his way to the top of the rankings for the men’s freestyle 65 kg category.

Punia was trailing by two points in his final against Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia and there not even half a minute left on the clock. But the Indian came up with a scramble in which he emerged on top. The scramble resulted in him getting awarded two points and points were tied at the end which resulted in him getting awarded the win by criteria of previous results going his way.

Vishal Kaliramana wins bronze, Vinesh Phogat the other gold medalist

Vinesh Phogat

Meanwhile, in the 70 kg category for men, Vishal Kaliramana defeated Kazakhstan’s Syrbaz Talgat 5-1 to finish with a bronze medal. On the other hand, the other bronze medal bout for India ended in defeat as Narsingh Pancham Yadav who was returning after a suspension period of four years lost to Jordan Ernest Burroughs who was the gold medal winner in the 2012 Olympic Games.

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The other gold medal winner for India apart from Bajrang Punia was Vinesh Phogat who defeated Diana Mary Helen Weicker 4-0 in the final. With the win, she climbed to number 1 from number 3 in the rankings for the 53 kg category. Incredibly, Vinesh did not concede even one point in the entire tournament as she won two bouts by pinning her opponents and blanked her opponent in the final. The other two were walkovers.

India ended the series with 8 medals in total. Apart from Phogat and Punia, Sarita Mor had won a silver. The bronze medalists were Vishal Kaliramana, Arjun Halakurki, Neeraj, Kuldeep Malik and Naveen.

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