Bajrang Punia, Sunil Kumar given extra financial assistance for foreign training

Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sunil Kumar have been granted financial assistance for their foreign exposure training. The Sports Ministry’s Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) approved financial assistance on Wednesday.

Ahead of a busy season, Bajrang Punia is in a 26-day training camp in Moscow. The ace wrestler was earlier approved an amount of ₹7.53 lakh for his training needs.

The Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist will now be supported with an additional ₹1.76 lakh for his ongoing camp. The training stint started on December 27 and will conclude later this month.

Jitender and Anand Kumar have accompanied Bajrang as his sparring partner and physiotherapist respectively.

Bajrang Punia's future assignments

Bajrang is set to compete in international meets including UWW Ranking events, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham as well as the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Speaking about his future tournaments, Bajrang Punia said his focus is to win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

“I have to compete in a Ranking Series in Italy and Turkey this February and then the Asian Championships in Mongolia in April. I’m going to give my best as my aim is to change the color of my medal in Paris 2024,” Bajrang said.

Sunil Kumar gets funds for training in Europe

Greco-Roman wrestler Sunil Kumar has been approved of ₹10.85 lakh for a special training camp in Romania and Hungary with his sparring partner and coach.

Sunil is part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Development group. He will be using the foreign exposure trip to prepare for the upcoming United World Wrestling Ranking events.

Sunil won gold medals at the Senior National Championships in 2019 and 2020 and the Senior Nationals in 2021.

Meanwhile, Bajrang and Ravi Dahiya have decided to train under Indian coaches ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.