Bajrang Punia back on mat as cast gets removed from knee in major injury recovery update

After a fortnight of active rest due to a minor knee injury sustained last month in Russia, India’s star freestyle wrestler Bajrang Punia is back to training on the mat, said an official of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

“He has started training on the mat. But the intensity of training is moderate to avoid stressing the injury knee,” added the WFI official.

Since the first week of June, Bajrang has been training in the Russian city of Valdikavkaz. He will fly directly from Russia to Japan to compete at the Tokyo Olympics starting July 23.

Read: Bajrang & Vinesh's foreign coaches doubtful for Tokyo Olympics

Bajrang injured his right knee on June 26 during a semifinal bout against Russia’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev at the Ali Aliyev wrestling tournament in Kaspiysk.

The 27 year old freestyle wrestler from Haryana qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games starting July 23 in men’s 65kg freestyle.

Due to the second wave of the COVID-19 in India, Bajrang faced problems finding a sparring partner. His main sparring partner Jitender Kumar was injured while wrestlers from foreign countries couldn’t come to India in May due to travel restrictions.

To prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games, Bajrang headed towards Russia.

“The training center in Russia has good sparring partners,” Bajrang had said before leaving for Russia.

Bajrang Punia hurts knee before Olympics

Last month, Bajrang injured his right knee during a semifinal bout at the Ali Aliyev wrestling competition in the Russian city of Kaspiysk. The injury temporarily halted his preparations.

Bajrang’s personal coach Shako Bentinidis was optimistic the injury would heal within a week as he claimed it wasn't serious.

"He should be fine within a week," the coach said.

However, it took Bajrang more than 10 days to resume training on the mat.

Being in the final phase of training, despite a knee injury, Punia sweated out in the gym to exercise his upper body.

“No rest for Bajrang. He is preparing for the Olympics. He has to keep himself fit,” Bajrang’s coach had said.

The Haryana-born international wrestler had skipped the Poland Ranking Series held in Warsaw from June 8-13 to practice with top Russian wrestlers to prepare for the Olympics.