Bajrang Punia wins Gold at Commonwealth Games 2022: Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist wrestler Bajrang Punia defeated Canadian wrestler Lachlan McNeil to win a gold medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. Bajrang defeated Canadian wrestler McNeil 9-2 in the men's 65kg weight category to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal for the second time in a row. The star athlete won a gold medal in the Gold Coast CWG, back in the year 2018. With a gold medal win in CWG 2022, Punia has managed to successfully defend his title. This is seventh gold India has won so far in Commonwealth Games 2022.
Bajrang had qualified for the semi-finals with a dominating 6-0 win over Mauritius' Jean-Gulienne Joris Bandou in just a minute. It took them less than two minutes for Bajran to make it to the quarterfinals, for which he registered an easy 4-0 win by knocking out Nauru's Lowe Bingham in the opening round.
Before Bajrang, Indian woman wrestler Anshu Malik on Friday opened India's account in wrestling by winning a silver medal in the 57kg freestyle event of the Commonwealth Games 2022. Anshu lost to Nigeria's Odunayo Folasade Edukuroye 3-7 in the final.
Anshu had given some dominating wrestling performances in every match before the final. The wrestler registered technical superiority (10-0) wins over Australia's Irene Simeonidis in the quarterfinals and Nethmi Poruthotage of Sri Lanka in the semifinals.