NEW DELHI: Bajrang Punia accused on Thursday the united world struggleit is (UWW) carpet doctors for derailing his World’s Championships campaign after applying the bandage meant to protect the ankle and knee to the wrestler’s injured skull, which blocked his vision and made him aware of the tape coming off during fights.
Bajrang, who won his record fourth medal (men’s 65kg category) at the Worlds in Belgrade, informed that he had to change the bandage after each fight lest blood flow from his wound and the match referee n grants his opponent a surprise.
“The bandage applied to cover my injured skull was the one used to tape an injured knee or ankle. They didn’t have the right tape with them to cover my skull. I hadn’t cut my hair or shaved for the Worlds. So when I took the bandage off after my pre-quarterfinal fight against Cuba’s Alejandro Valdes Tobier in the warm-up area, it ripped hair out of my scalp and beard. was sore and i had an itchy feeling it took me at least 15-20 minutes to change the bandage for my next fight against USA Yianni Diakomihalis, which I lost on technical superiority. The coaches and I wasted a lot of time trying to get the tape off my face. The focus was on removing the bandage. We couldn’t plan the quarter-final fight,” Bajrang told TOI in an interview.
“The bandage was blocking my vision as it rolled over my eyes. It was slippery and disrupted my rhythm and intensity during fights. I didn’t have time to tell the doctors that the bandage they were applying was not If a wrestler gets injured during the fight, they have four minutes time to get back into action and fight, otherwise the referee will either disqualify you or give your opponent a forfeit bronze, but that was a task pretty hard to replace it with a new record after every game. If the injury hadn’t happened, I definitely would have done better at Worlds. The preparation was solid and it was all about executing it. The results didn’t did not meet expectations,” he added.
The Tokyo Olympics The bronze medalist had suffered a deep cut to his skull that had to be heavily taped to control the bleeding during his fight against Tobier. The reigning CTM champion beat Tobier 5-4 in a fierce contest, but then lost to Diakomihalis 10-0 in the quarters. After the American reached the final round, Bajrang battled his way through the repechage to claim bronze.
“I have five stitches on my skull and it will take about 10 days for the cut to heal. The idea was to avoid any serious injuries like in the case of the knee, ankle or joint that requires painful surgery and a long rehabilitation process,” he said.
Bajrang, who won his record fourth medal (men’s 65kg category) at the Worlds in Belgrade, informed that he had to change the bandage after each fight lest blood flow from his wound and the match referee n grants his opponent a surprise.
“The bandage applied to cover my injured skull was the one used to tape an injured knee or ankle. They didn’t have the right tape with them to cover my skull. I hadn’t cut my hair or shaved for the Worlds. So when I took the bandage off after my pre-quarterfinal fight against Cuba’s Alejandro Valdes Tobier in the warm-up area, it ripped hair out of my scalp and beard. was sore and i had an itchy feeling it took me at least 15-20 minutes to change the bandage for my next fight against USA Yianni Diakomihalis, which I lost on technical superiority. The coaches and I wasted a lot of time trying to get the tape off my face. The focus was on removing the bandage. We couldn’t plan the quarter-final fight,” Bajrang told TOI in an interview.
“The bandage was blocking my vision as it rolled over my eyes. It was slippery and disrupted my rhythm and intensity during fights. I didn’t have time to tell the doctors that the bandage they were applying was not If a wrestler gets injured during the fight, they have four minutes time to get back into action and fight, otherwise the referee will either disqualify you or give your opponent a forfeit bronze, but that was a task pretty hard to replace it with a new record after every game. If the injury hadn’t happened, I definitely would have done better at Worlds. The preparation was solid and it was all about executing it. The results didn’t did not meet expectations,” he added.
The Tokyo Olympics The bronze medalist had suffered a deep cut to his skull that had to be heavily taped to control the bleeding during his fight against Tobier. The reigning CTM champion beat Tobier 5-4 in a fierce contest, but then lost to Diakomihalis 10-0 in the quarters. After the American reached the final round, Bajrang battled his way through the repechage to claim bronze.
“I have five stitches on my skull and it will take about 10 days for the cut to heal. The idea was to avoid any serious injuries like in the case of the knee, ankle or joint that requires painful surgery and a long rehabilitation process,” he said.
