Continuing his preparations for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia will head to Germany to participate in the Deutsche Ringer Liga, the professional wrestling league in the country, next month.
The 24-year-old will be the first Indian to participate in the German league when he turns up for VFK Schifferstdat in the final against SV Germania Weingarten on February 2.
“It’s a good opportunity for me to test myself,” Bajrang told Scroll.in. “It is a new challenge and the more I learn now, the better it is for me going into the Olympic qualification process.”
Bajrang is currently part of the Punjab Royals team in the ongoing Pro Wrestling League, which will host its final on January 31. He has been unbeaten in the league so far.
In Germany, the Asian Games gold medallist will turn up for Shifferstdat to face Cuba’s Alejandro Valdes Tobier, who was Bajrang’s opponent in the semi-final of 2018 World Championships.
The two wrestlers will compete in the 67 kg weight category on Saturday in what will be a home match for Shifferstdat, a two-time finalist hoping to win the title for the first time.
“Bajrang begins the season with this league and the competition is very high,” says Shako Bentinidis, Bajrang’s coach. “He has been improving. We were looking for new competition so we decided to head to Germany.”
Coach confident of Bajrang’s success
In a home and away concept, Shifferstdat and Weingarten will play matches termed as “final”. The second leg will be held on February 9 at Walzbachhalle Sports stadium in Weingarten.
In the first leg, competitions in freestyle 60 kg, 67 kg, 77 kg, 87 kg and 98 kg categories and Greco-Roman 63 kg, 72 kg, 77 kg, 87 kg and 130 kg categories will be held.
The team with most wins will win the title and if the wins are same, the team with more technical points will be declared the winner.
In the second leg, the categories will be interchanged between the two styles of wrestling which means that Bajrang will be competing in the 72 kg category on February 9.
“I don’t know how I’ll perform in 72 kg. I think the Cuban wrestler will have an upper hand but it’s same day weigh-in so should not be a problem,” he says.
Coach Bentinidis is confident that his ward can overcome any challenge and beat Tobier like he did in Budapest at the World Championships.
“Bajrang is very strong physically and there is little doubt in 72 kg which we will address in the week between the two bouts. I think he will beat him in the higher weight class as well,” the coach says.
The league, which goes on for six months and matches being played on weekends, will be Bajrang’s first international competition of the year.
He will later head to Belarus for the Dan-Kolov tournament, which will be a ranking series comepetition for the world No 2.
The 2018 world championships silver-medallist recently defeated three-time world champion and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Haji Aliyev 8-6 in the Pro Wrestling League.
Bentinidis says that next time the two wrestlers face each other, the difference in points will be higher for Bajrang.
“Here the rest period was 90 seconds, which is 60 seconds more than in international competitions,” he says.
“International competition is very different and in the coming year, Bajrang will be winning more matches against best wrestlers in the world.”