Tokyo Olympics: How Bajrang Punia pushed himself through pain | Tokyo Olympics News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Bajrang Punia had suffered a “severe knee injury” in Russia in June which had threatened his Olympics participation, revealed famous Mumbai-based orthopedic surgeon Dinshaw Pardiwala, whose timely intervention proved crucial in preventing further damage to the injured area.
“Bajrang was competing in Russia when he sustained the injury. He got in touch with the Central Athlete Injury Management System cell at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and, as a doctor on the central core committee of the CAIMS, the SAI put me in touch with him. I took him through a stepwise treatment process, assessing his recovery constantly, and suggesting corrective treatment,” recalled Pardiwala, who is the Head of Centre for Sports Medicine, & Director – Arthroscopy & Shoulder Service at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.

“There were times when we had to interact multiple times a day to ensure timely recovery. I think the timely intervention was crucial in arresting further injury and ensuring that he could continue to train for the Olympics and participate in it. During the process of treatment and rehabilitation, we needed specific equipment which was not available where he was, and given the Covid situation we could not have brought him back to India. The Indian Embassy in Russia played an important role in procuring the equipment there and ensured that the process of treatment was not hampered,” Pardiwala added.
Bajrang informed TOI from Tokyo: “As I was in Russia and time was of the essence, I connected with Dr Pardiwala via teleconferencing and he and my physio (Manish Konwar Chettri) after full assessment recommended testing and ‘Game Ready’ therapeutic equipment. The embassy helped in getting the equipment which healed my injury. My Olympic preparations had suffered because of the injury.”