The Indian wrestler is a two-time Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist. Notably, he won a silver medal in the 2014 Asian Games and bettered it with a gold in the 2018 edition of the tournament. In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Punia had won a gold medal in the men's freestyle 65kg. He had defeated Kane Charig of Wales in the final.

In the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Punia won a bronze medal. He lost to Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the semi-final before beating Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan in the third-place match in Tokyo.