A bronze medal on his World Championship debut has made 19-year-old Bajrang one for future and the perfect replacement for, now 30, Yogeshwar Dutt in the 60-kg category. The wrestler chats up with Krishnaraj Singh Jasana
Take us through your final bout.I think it was luck also that favoured me and I made full use of it. I was determined to win a medal at the World Championships. I thought that I may have not been able to win a gold medal but I have to take bronze home. I just wanted a medal.
The bout was about taking advantage of the mistakes that my opponent would make. Technically, when he was coming over me during the bout, I just picked up him and pushed him out to take two points. Then, at one point I pushed him down and danger kar diya which gave me two more points.
And, the feeling when you had won the match. What was it likeIJ
It was a great feeling, one of extreme happiness that resulted in tears. I had put in a lot of effort and by God’s grace it resulted in a medal. I had Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar by my side. They said ‘bahut achcha kiya tuney, itni choti umar mein itna badaa padak shayad hi koi pehelwan ka aaya hoga’. I felt very nice as such big stars were congratulating me. What can be bigger than this for meIJ
You have won a medal in the same weight category as Yogeshwar Dutt. At 19, can we say that we have a perfect replacement for Dutt as by the time Rio 2016 comes, he would be nearing 34IJ
I stay with Yogeshwar. I am his roommate. Whenever I make a mistake, he corrects me. Then, before every match he tells me the way I should fight. He is experienced and this was my first big competition. Next year, we have the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the World Championships. Then, we have Rio Olympics in 2016. If next year Yogeshwar doesn’t play then I will try and take part in these tournaments.
Any wrestler who you want to be likeIJ
Yogeshwar has been my role model. I want to be a good wrestler like him. I want to win a gold medal in Olympics.
You dream of winning an Olympic medal but you may never have had a shot at that had wrestling not made it back into Olympics fold.
It (wrestling’s suspension as an Olympic sport from in 2012) came as a big disappointment to me. It was like there is no target in life. I would wonder what would I do by continuing wrestlingIJ But then, when it became clear that wrestling will be a part of 2020 Olympics and instantly the thought changed to that I have to do something for the country now.
Your thoughts on the rousing welcome you and Amit Kumar (World Championships silver medallist) received upon arrivalIJ
It was heartening to see the love of the countrymen. When Sushil and Yogeshwar came back from london, so many people came to receive and same thing happened when Amit and I came so it felt really nice. The better I do, the more love will I get. I have won bronze now, will try and win gold in the future.
How did you take up wrestlingIJ Were you ever told by your parents to do something that would be more securedIJ
My father is a farmer. He himself liked to wrestle when young and so I had some wrestling in my blood. In the interiors of Haryana, wrestling is like a hobby so a lot of grapplers come from the state. There is an international wrestler Narendra Poonia, who would take me with him to the akhara and from there it started. I was never My parents always encouraged me when I took up the game.