Bajrang Punia: I want to win an Olympic medal in Tokyo badly

This is Bajrang Puniarsquos maiden Olympics but given the solid reputation he has earned after some stupendous international achievements across the last few years anything less than a medal in Tokyo will be viewed as a failure for the star grapplerHe is the only Indian wrestler to have three World Championship medals to his name besides gold medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games among other feats An Olympic medal seems to be the obvious progression for the World No 2 grappler in the 65kg category but thatrsquos easier said than done he insistsIn an interview with midday speaking from his training base in Vladikavkaz Russia the JSW Sports athlete discusses the pressure of expectation the COVID19 disruption and an improvement in his leg defence a shortcoming that led to many close defeats in the pastPunia leaves for Tokyo on July 29 and his competition is on August 67Edited excerptsConsidering yoursquove won almost everything in wrestling except an Olympic medal how badly do you want that medal in TokyoI want to win an Olympic medal in Tokyo badly not just for myself but for my country It is every athletersquos dream to win an Olympic medal and I have no hesitation in admitting that I share that dream It would be great to win a medal in my firstever appearance at the Olympic GamesYoursquore entering the Games as World No 2 Does this make you a sureshot medal prospectI never enter any tournament with my ranking or previous performances in mind because that can lead to overconfidence and a possibility that I may underestimate my opponents I canrsquot let that happen I just want to focus on giving my best and maintaining belief in my training I never think too much about rankings because I believe that at the Olympics every wrestler is capable of beating his or her opponentHow did the Coronavirusforced lockdown affect your training and competition plansThere have been many difficulties in the last 18 months due to the COVID19 situation It is a constant challenge to keep ourselves safe and healthy but we have to also focus on training for the Olympics Wrestling is a contact sport so it was very difficult for my coaches to find training partners given the stringent safety protocols Then the biggest challenge was the lack of competitive tournaments in the lockdown Competitions are very important in the runup to any major tournament At this stage competitions serve as training platforms for better preparationHow difficult will it be for you to perform at the highest level given the strict COVID19 protocols in Tokyo where regular movement and human interaction are restrictedItrsquos tricky because we have to also remain fit and healthy else we canrsquot compete But maintaining those COVID19 protocols in Japan is for my own benefit too Everyone will have to get used to them and compete Itrsquos not too difficult because we have been training under these regulations for over 18 months nowHave you taken any advice from senior wrestlers like Sushil Kumar twotime Olympic medallist or Yogeshwar Dutt 2012 London bronzeIrsquove not been in touch with either Sushil bhai or Yogeshwar bhai in recent years Irsquove been busy working with the Indian coaches and my personal coach Georgiarsquos Shako Bentinidis I only interact with them Theyrsquore working hard on my training and strategyYour leg defence was something you were working on after the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games Any improvement thereI have seen a lot of improvement in my leg defence in the tournaments this year as compared to the previous year he won gold at the Rome Ranking Series event in January and settled for silver at the Asian Championships in Almaty in April after being forced to withdraw from the final due to injury That gives me the confidence that I am doing the right things in training Both at the Rome event and the Asian Championships I did not give away any points to my opponents by letting them grab my legs I defended well This only means that I have become betterAlso Read Deepak Chahars unbeaten fifty helps India beat Sri Lanka in nailbiting game