Bagrang Punia Atop 65-kg World Wrestling Rankings; Five Women Feature In Top 10 

India wrestling star Bajrang Punia has reached the highest point of a wrestler’s career, as he tops the 65 kg men’s rankings. The United World Wrestling (UWW) released the rankings in which Bajrang Punia holds the top spot with a 30-point lead over second place Alejandro Enrique of Cuba in the 65 kg category.

The wrestler from Jhajjar, Haryana, is having the best season till date, having won five medals. It all began at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships held in South Africa in December 2017, where he won gold by beating Terry Kelly Jr. and continued his run with a gold medal at the Commonwealth games 2018 in Australia.

In the Asian Games 2018, Punia went on to add another gold medal to the growing list by defeating Daichi Takatani 11-8. Winning the World Wrestling Championships would have been cherry on top, but the Asiad and Commonwealth gold medalist lost in the finals. However, it did not stop him from a place atop the UWW list at 96 points with a massive difference of 30-points over second place Alejandro Enrique whom he beat at the semi-final stage during the World Championships at Budapest.

Furthermore, five female wrestlers feature in the top-tens in their respective categories. Pooja Dhanda’s bronze medal at the World Championships helped her to reach the sixth position in the women's 57 kg category with 52 points. In the women’s 50 kg category, Ritu Phogat entered the top-ten at tenth position with 33 points. Sarita Mor is placed seventh in 59 kg category with 29 points. Navjot Kaur and Kiran are ninth in 68 kg and 76 kg category with 32 and 37 points each respectively.