SONEPAT: August 7, 2021. Bajrang Punia, debilitated and frustrated by his knee injury, was warming up for his 65kg freestyle bronze-medal bout. It was the biggest stage of them all -- the Olympics. He had landed in Tokyo virtually on one leg, carrying a knee injury he suffered in Russia barely a month or so before the Games. But his valor had shone through in the Japanese capital.
Bajrang, though, lost in the semis to Azerbaijan's Haji Aliyev. Now, it was either an Olympic medal or an agonizing wait of another three years. With that playing on his mind, Bajrang virtually decided to put his career on the line. "Remove the (knee) brace for now, we'll take care of the injury later," he told the physio.
