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| - Fact Check: Netizens go gaga over incredible wrestling moves! But the grappler is not Olympian Bajrang Punia
A video went viral with a claim that Olympics medallist Bajrang Punia was seen defeating his opponent. However, the video is of a Punjabi wrestler Mosam Ali.
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India Today Fact Check
The man seen in the viral video is Mosam Ali, a freestyle professional wrestler from Punjab.
Two pehelvans or wrestlers face off against each other in an arena surrounded by hundreds of people. One of the wrestlers shows tremendous dexterity as he rolls and tosses his opponent several times in quick succession — rendering him visibly disoriented and unwilling to fight.
This exciting short video has been widely shared online with the claim that it shows Indian freestyle wrestler and Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia displaying his talent.
AFWA, however, found that the expert wrestler in the video was not Punia. It was Mosam Ali, a professional wrestler from Punjab. The viral post has been archived here.
AFWA Probe
Under the viral tweet, several people said that the wrestler in question was Mosam Ali. People also commented that this looked like a staged fight.
A reverse image search on the video’s frames revealed that it had been on the internet since 2019. Several people at the time had shared the video on Facebook and YouTube and they can be seen here, here, and here.
We then found Ali’s YouTube channel, which is full of similar freestyle wrestling videos. In almost all videos, Ali appears to be the winner. AFWA spoke to Ali over the phone and showed him the viral clip. He recognised the video and immediately identified himself in the viral clip.
Who is Mosam Ali?
Ali is a popular name in freestyle professional wrestling circles in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Per news reports, he hails from Malerkot, Punjab, and has won several local or interstate tournaments.
His bouts are popular and get regularly featured on “Kusti” YouTube channels. We found several videos of Ali where he defeats his opponents using his signature wrestling move as seen in the viral clip.
Because some people alleged the video was staged, AFWA asked Ali about it, who said, “Even WWE wrestling is also for entertainment. Yes, if we entertain people with our wrestling what is wrong with that?” On his Instagram page, Ali calls himself an “artist”.
In either case, it is amply clear that the video does not show Bajrang Punia.
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