MUMBAI: On his 24th birthday,
Bajrang Punia has been rewarded for a successful 2017 season by being crowned Wrestler of the Year at the third Mahindra Scorpio
Times of India Sports Awards
(TOISA) powered by All-Out.
Bajrang won the highest accolade by an Indian wrestler last year, a gold medal in 65 kg freestyle at the Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi, beating South Korea's Seungchul Lee 6-2. On his way to the summit, Bajrang had beaten the previous Asian Championship gold-medallist Meisam Nassiri 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
His second gold of the year came at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, beating Daichi Takatani of Japan, and there was also a silver medal at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championship - his first at world level in an Olympic weight category.
Others nominated were 2016 Olympic medalist
Sakshi Malik, who in 2017 won a silver medal (60 kg) at the Asian Wrestling Championship, gold medal (62kg) at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg and another gold (62kg) at the National Wrestling Championships; Asian Wrestling Championship and National Wrestling Championships silver medalist Sarita Mor;
Sumit Kumar, who marked his comeback to the international circuit after seven months with a silver medal (125kg) at the Asian Wrestling Championship and later added gold at the National Wrestling Championships; and Vinesh Phogat who won a 55kg silver medal at the Asian Wrestling Championship - her first tournament since the Rio Olympics where she suffered a career-threatening injury - and gold at the National Wrestling Championships.
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