Antim Panghal defeated Singaporean veteran Alvina Lim in the preliminary rounds by fall, and in the quarterfinals, she thrashed Li Deng
Follow Us
Antim Panghal, a rising star from India who was competing in her first international competition of the year, took home a silver medal on Wednesday at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan. To reach the 53 kg final, 18-year-old Antim Panghal gave up just one point. Akari Fujinami of Japan, the world champion in 2021, faced her in the championship match, and she out-technique Antim Panghal 10-0. In international competitions, the 19-year-old Japanese wrestler has never been satisfied with anything less than a gold medal and entered the final match unbeaten in 118 matches across domestic and international competitions.
Antim Panghal defeated Singaporean veteran Alvina Lim in the preliminary rounds by fall, and in the quarterfinals, she thrashed Li Deng of China 6-0. Before giving up her first point of the match, Panghal quickly built a 4-0 lead over Aktenge Keunimjaeva of Uzbekistan in the semifinals. To be eligible for the gold, Antim Panghal then submitted her opponent. Anshu Malik (57 kg), Sonam Malik (62 kg), Manisha (65 kg), and Reetika Hooda (72 kg), the remaining four Indian women wrestlers, all accepted bronze. Anshu Malik, who won the silver medal at the 2021 World Championships, defeated Mongolia’s Erdenesuvd Bat Erdene 10-0 to win the bronze medal. After defeating Qi Zhang of China and Danielle Sue Ching Lim of Singapore, Anshu Malik advanced to the semi-finals, defeated 5-1 by former Asian champion and eventual gold medalist Sae Nanjo of Japan.
Read More-Asian Wrestling Championships 2023, India: Greco-Roman results
Sonam Malik, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, fell to Mongolia’s Orkhon Purevdorj in their quarterfinal matchup, but Purevdorj advanced to the final, giving Sonam Malik a chance to compete for bronze via the repechage. Sonam Malik defeated the 2019 Asian champion and current No. 2 Xiaojuan Luo of China in the match for the bronze medal. by 5-1. Manisha participated in the round-robin competition and advanced to the 72 kg semifinals The Japanese U20 champion Mahiro Yoshitake, however, won by fall over the Indian wrestler, who then went on to win bronze by defeating Kazakhstan’s Albina Kairgeldinova.
Reetika Hooda beat Kyrgyzstan’s Nurzat Nurtaeva 6-3 in the preliminary round but lost to Japan’s Sumire Niikura 5-4 in the semi-final. The matchup with Svetlana Oknazarova of Uzbekistan was Reetika Hooda’s biggest win of the day. The Indian wrestler won the bronze medal by defeating 2018 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist Oknazarova 5-1. With Antim Panghal, the Indian women’s wrestlers won five medals on the day, giving them a total of seven medals for the Asian Championships 2023, including two silver and five bronze. Indian women wrestlers won five medals at the Asian championships held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the year before—two silver and three bronze.
Read More-Meet Antim Panghal: The trailblazer from World U20 Wrestling Championships