Bajrang Punia happy to have won CWG 2022 gold playing his 'natural, attacking game'

Commonwealth Games (CWG) wrestling gold. He looked visibly tired. "Abhi so ke utha hu," he replied to a question if he celebrated. It was almost like hearing someone finishing a routine work shift and catching up on some well-deserved sleep. Bajrang conceded just two points on the way to his second Commonwealth Games in the 65kg weight category. But if someone mentioned the word 'easy' to him, his reply was pretty simple. "Nobody comes to the Commonwealth Games to lose."

(AFP Photo)The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist made a very interesting comparison between his two CWG gold medals. "In 2018 I did not have an Olympic medal, but I came here having won an Olympic medal." It suggests that, maybe somewhere down the line, reputation was at stake. And the Indian grapplers fought like that on the opening day of the wrestling event in Birmingham, with all six winning medals, including three golds won by Bajrang, Deepak Punia and Sakshi Malik. Excerpts from a press conference TimesofIndia.com was invited to:Your first reaction..It feels good to repeat 2018. The weaknesses after the Olympics that were there, I have improved on that.

Is the aggressive wrestler Bajrang finally back?I have always played aggressive. People said, "Olympics ke baad wo Bajrang dikhayi nahi deta (we haven't seen the same Bajrang after the Olympics). I was working on that, as a player loses crucial ground because of injury. The 2-3 months of training after recovering from leg injuries has helped me improve. I know how attacking I played or how safe I played and will work on whatever deficiencies are left in my game.

Was there pressure?There was no pressure. I just wanted to emulate my training in the competition. I have now played a lot of tournaments.