Commonwealth Games is back in Birmingham again and so are LPU students! Who can forget their cruising journey in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 last year, where 13 LPU students participated and 12 of them won medals on the grand stage. LPU has immensely contributed to the development of sports and enhanced the mode of participation giving athletes huge opportunities and pushing them to achieve greater heights.
If you all remember, Bajrang Punia, the power wrestler from India in the 65 kg category, won a Bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 becoming one of the very few Indians to excel and return with a medal at this historic sports championships. Married to Sangeeta Phogat, a wrestler herself and sister to the “Dangal” girls, Bajrang has steadily incremented towards establishing himself as one of the prime wrestlers of India, successfully defending his name this time in the men’s 65 kg category. Bajrang won Gold medal with a dominating performance against Canada’s Lachlan McNeil in the 65kg final bout at the CWG2022.
Friday, August 5, saw a flood of medals by the Indian wrestlers where all six of them were honoured with three gold and one silver, and two bronze medals. A hat-trick of Gold medals was achieved by Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Deepak Punia (86 kg), and Sakshi Malik (62 kg), where Sakshi and Deepak won a Commonwealth Gold medal for the first time, Anshu Malik (57 kg) got a silver medal, and Divya Kakran (68 kg) and Mohit Grewal (125 kg) were awarded a bronze medal on the opening day making it a grand opening for India.
Bajrang Punia himself fulfilled a hat-trick of Commonwealth Games medals and his second consecutive gold medal after winning Gold in Gold Coast 2018, and Silver in Glasgow 2014, becoming the first and the only Indian to be the recipient of three World Championships medals along with an Olympics medal.
Earlier during the Olympics, Bajrang suffered a knee injury, where he had to settle for Bronze despite being the favourite. This endeavour in Birmingham made sure that he didn’t allow any setback to overpower him. With fire in his limbs and a body of steel, Bajrang is all set for the Paris Olympics 2024. We wish him all the best for his next challenge!
