Wrestling | Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia to train in U.S. ahead of world championships

Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia and Olympian Deepak Punia will train in Michigan, the U.S., in the run-up to the World wrestling championships to be held in Belgrade, Serbia, from September 10 to 18.

Bajrang (65kg) and Deepak (86kg) – who had trained in the U.S. before landing gold medals in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games – will be accompanied by coach Sujeet Mann and physiotherapist Dr. Anand Kumar, who will join them after a few days.

Gold medalist Deepak Punia of Team India celebrates during the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling 86 kg medal ceremony on day eight of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at on August 05, 2022 on the Coventry, England. (Source: Getty Images)

The camp, which has been approved under the Union Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), is scheduled to last for 19 days, with Deepak and Bajrang set to travel to Belgrade for the World wrestling championships directly from the U.S.

The two Indian wrestlers will train at the Michigan University under head coach Sean Bormet. In the past, the varsity coach trained Olympics bronze medallist Myles Amine (86kg) and Olympians Stevan Micic (57kg) and Andy Hrovat (84kg), among others.