CWG 2022: Bajrang Punia bags India's first gold medal in Wrestling, beats Canada's Lachlan McNeil

Bajrang Punia won gold medal for India beating Canada's Lachlan McNeil in the 65 kg category Wrestling final at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 on Friday (August 5) in Birmingham. The Indian wrestler stormed into the final with an impressive win in the semifinal (10-0) and right from the start of the event, he was unstoppable beating any opponent coming his way. Notably, Bajrang took a comfortable 4-0 lead after Round 1 in the final.

Along with Bajrang, there were three more wrestlers fighting for gold on Friday as Anshu Malik took on Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye in Women's Freestyle 57kg final. The Nigeria wrestler got the better of Anshu who was making her debut in the Games and Odunayo completed her hattrick of Gold at the CWG. The Nigeria wrestler got the better of Anshu who was making her debut in the Games and Odunayo completed her hattrick of Gold at the CWG. (CWG 2022: Anshu Malik settles for Silver after defeat against Nigeria's Folasade Adekuoroye)

This was Bajrang's third Commonwealth Games medal. Earlier, he had won silver in his debut at the CWG in 2014 and then gold four years ago in Gold Cost.

1st GOLD medal of the day folks 
Wrestling: Bajrang Punia wins Gold medal (65kg) after beating Lachlan McNeil 9-2 in Final.
 Bajrang did it in style: Won 1st 2 bouts by pinning opponents & Semis bout 10-0.
 Its 2nd consecutive CWG Gold medal for Bajrang. #CWG2020 pic.twitter.com/lfgrM8Hjtr — India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) August 5, 2022

Punia finished with a 4-0 lead over McNeil at the end of the first period. footer ads But McNeil made a comeback with a strong effort and he cut down the deficit by two points to make it 2-4. Punia took the lead once again after scoring two more points. The Indian did not look back from there and won the match 9-2. Punia reached the final after defeating George Ramm of England in the semi-final. He defeated his English opponent 10-0.

He had reached the semi-final of the men's freestyle 65 kg category after defeating Jean Guyliane Joris Bandou of Mauritius in the quarter-final. Bajrang was at his very best in the match as he gained a 6-0 win by fall. The match lasted for just one minute. Commonwealth Games started from July 28 in Birmingham and will go on till August 8. (With ANI inputs)