Asian Wrestling Championships: Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist Bajrang Punia says that he is completely focused on his career as he prepares for his return to the mat after a long injury layoff. Punia won the bronze in Tokyo playing with a knee injury and returns ahead of an important few months with the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the World Champions all preceding the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Indian wrestler has been in the news with change in his personnel with Sujeet Maan replacing Shako Bendinitis. Follow Wrestling updates on Insidesport.in.
Asian Wrestling Championships: Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist Bajrang Punia clarifies “Shako wasn’t pushed out”
In an interview with TOI, Bajrang Punia dismissed all rumours of former coach Shako Bendinitis being forced out. Shako was Bajrang’s coach for nearly four years and was alongside him during the successful Tokyo Olympics campaign, but was replaced by Sujeet Maan ahead of the new season.
Clarifying his Bajrang said that Bendinitis’ contract ended and he owed a great deal of his success to him. He said, “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).”
Asian Wrestling Championships: Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist Bajrang Punia clarifies “Shako wasn’t pushed out”
The Indian wrestler, one of India’s biggest hopes in the upcoming Asian and Commonwealth Games, was also caught in a controversy with him being “denied a physio” while rehabilitating. Bajrang was seemingly caught in a war of words with WFI but confirmed that there was “no controversy”.
He said, “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.”
Bajrang added, “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.
The Indian wrestling ace added that he oblivious to the news and did not know what was happening behind the scenes. He said, “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.”
Asian Wrestling Championships: Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist Bajrang Punia clarifies “Shako wasn’t pushed out”
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