Bajrang Punia starts using social media, wants to help people battling COVID-19

Amidst the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, ace Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia wants to help the citizens in whatever capacity he can to help fight the ongoing crisis.

Last month, the World No.1 wrestler stopped using his social media handles and asked fans to keep showing him support as he gets battle ready for the upcoming Tokyo Games.

One of India's biggest Olympic medal prospects, Bajrang on Tuesday said he is returning to use social media as he cannot see his fellow citizens suffer in the COVID-19 crisis.

"I had left social media to focus on Olympics. But seeing the situation of India due to the coronavirus crisis, I had to start using social media. Whatever I have achieved in my life, it's all because of your blessings," said Bajran in Hindi in a statement on Twitter.

"So being a player, if I don't come forward to help my fellow citizens, there is no use of all that I have achieved. So in these testing times, I want to help people," he added.

Bajrang had earlier revealed that regular use of social media was hampering his preparation.

"Nothing like that (if any particular incident prompted him to deactivate social media). But I felt that social media was disturbing my preparation. And Olympic is the biggest event so I thought it would be better if I put all my focus on my preparation. If I want to win a medal in Olympics, I have to keep everything aside for the coming months," Bajrang had told .

Meanwhile, India reported 3.23 lakh fresh coronavirus cases and over 2,700 related deaths in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,23,144 new COVID-19 cases, 2771 related deaths and 2,51,827 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases to 28,82,204, as per the health ministry update on Tuesday morning.

The total count of positive cases now stands at 1,76,36,307, including 1,97,894 deaths and 1,45,56,209 recoveries.

( With inputs from ANI )