Bajrang Punia to miss ranking tournament in Poland, opts for training in Russia

Bajrang, the World No.1 in men’s freestyle 65kg category, underlined the importance of good training ahead of his maiden Olympics.

Bajrang Punia is confident that his decision to skip the Ranking Series tournament in Poland in order to train in Russia will give him some much-needed sparring with world class wrestlers.

Bajrang, the World No.1 in men’s freestyle 65kg category, underlined the importance of good training ahead of his maiden Olympics.

“I cancelled Poland because I needed training more than anything else. The National camp is not going on and training is not happening (due to the pandemic). My ranking is good. When we fight for a medal, it is important how much we have trained,” Bajrang said during an online press conference, facilitated by the Sports Authority of India, on Saturday.

READ |

Presence of champions

“I will train in Vladikavkaz, where (Zaurbek) Sidakov (74kg World champion) is training. The 2016 Olympics champion (in 65kg) Soslan Romanov, 70kg World champion David (Baev) and other top wrestlers are there. You get good training centres in Russia.”

Bajrang, who said the ‘no quarantine’ rule in Russia at present would help, plans to train there until the Tokyo Games.