Pawan Kumar (born 16 October 1993), also known as Pawan Saroha, is an Indian

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

. He represented

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 86 kg weight class in which he won the bronze medal. He also represented

at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

in the 86 kg weight class. His spouse is fellow wrestler

Geeta Phogat Geeta Phogat (born 15 December 1988) is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first ever gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Summer Games. Pe ...

Personal life

Kumar, also known as Pawan Saroha, married

, an Olympic wrestler, on 20 November 2016.

Career

2014 Commonwealth Games

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the young wrestler began his maiden CWG campaign in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland with a round of 16 matchup against Steve Hill of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, winning the match 4-0. Kumar met

Luigi Bianco Luigi Bianco was born 3 March 1960 is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He has been an apostolic nuncio with the rank of archbishop since 2009. Biography Luigi Bianc ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the quarter-finals and beat him 5-0. In the semi-finals, Kumar lost out to

Tamerlan Tagziev Tamerlan Tagziev (born September 25, 1981) is an Ossetian wrestler competing for Canada. Career Tagziev moved to Canada in 2009 and became a citizen in the same year. He won a gold medal in the 86 kg freestyle at the 2014 Commonwealth Games ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with the burly Canadian beating him 5-0. There was still a chance of a medal with Kumar competing in the bronze medal match. He faced

Muhammad Inam Muhammad Inam Butt (born 27 February 1989) is a Pakistani professional wrestler. He won the country's second gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Beach Games, gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games, gold ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and ended the tightly contested match 6-6. But he was awarded the bronze medal in the particular category since he was the last one to score a point.

2014 Asian Games

The

, held in

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

, South Korea, wasn't as rewarding for Kumar. In the round of 16, Kumar faced off against Sumir Kumar Sah of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and won 4-0. Progressing to the quarter-finals stage, Kumar was up against Mostafajoukar Meisam of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

but lost 0-4 to the Iranian. With the latter qualifying for the finals, Kumar was given a chance to compete in the repechage round where he met Zhang Feng of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

but ultimately crashed out of the tournament, losing 1-3.

References

External links

Profile
at

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Pawan Living people 1993 births People from Delhi Sport wrestlers from Delhi Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Wrestlers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Wrestlers at the 2014 Asian Games Indian male sport wrestlers Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India