Manisha Bhanwala secured India's first gold medal at the Asian Championships since 2021, defeating Korea's Ok J Kim in a tight 8-7 contest, while Antim Panghal had to settle for a bronze medal on Friday.
Despite trailing 2-7 in the 62kg freestyle final, Manisha demonstrated remarkable resilience by scoring six consecutive points to secure her maiden Asian Championships gold. Prior to this victory, she had achieved three bronze medals at this tournament.
Manisha started her campaign with a commanding technical superiority victory against Kazakhstan's Tynys Dubek, followed by a win over Korea's Hanbit Lee. She maintained her dominance in the semifinal, conceding just one point in her 5-1 triumph against Kalmira Bilimbek Kyzy.
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The young Panghal, aged 20, made her return to international competition after her underwhelming performance at the Paris Olympics.
She secured a victory against China's Jin Zhang in the 53kg quarterfinal but found herself outclassed by Japan's Moe Kiyooka, who claimed victory through technical superiority.
During the first period, Panghal, who holds the distinction of being India's first U20 world champion, couldn't score while conceding a point. The second period saw her increasing the tempo, but Kiyooka maintained an impenetrable defence.
When Panghal was placed on the clock for passivity, the Japanese competitor executed two successful moves within the 30-second window to establish a solid 5-0 advantage. Panghal subsequently lost an additional point due to passivity.
Kiyooka demonstrated her dominance by successfully taking Panghal to the mat and executing a flip manoeuvre, which brought the contest to its conclusion.
In the bronze medal match, Panghal displayed complete control against Taipei's Meng H Hsieh, securing victory through technical superiority without losing any points.
Neha Sharma (57kg), Monika (65kg) and Jyoti Beriwal (72kg) failed to advance to the medal rounds.
The Indian wrestling contingent has secured a total of eight medals in the tournament, comprising one gold, one silver and six bronze, with two of the bronze medals coming from Greco Roman wrestlers.
