Antim Panghal, a junior wrestler from India, made history by becoming the U20 World Champion in Sofia, Bulgaria. Panghal became India’s first female wrestler to win gold at the U20 World Wrestling Championships. Antim won the gold medal in the 53kg category after defeating Atlyn Shagayeva of Kazakhstan in the final.
Deepak Punia, Ramesh Kumar, Palwinder Singh Cheema, and Pappu Yadav are the other Indian wrestlers who have previously won U20 World Championships.
Antim Panghal wins historic gold
Antim Panghal began her tournament against German Amery Olivia, winning 11-0 and with technical superiority. In her second match, the Indian wrestler defeated Ayaka Kimura of Japan by fall. Panghal faced Nataliia Klivchutska of Ukraine in the semi-final match, which she won with a score of 11- 2. Antim began the final against Altyn Shagayeva of Kazakhstan with a double leg attack and then went for an outside head for another takedown. The Indian wrestler led 6-0 at the break. After the break, Antim was content to play out the three minutes, scoring only one takedown to win the bout by an 8-0 score.
Other Indian wrestlers who competed in the final did not win gold. Sonam Malik, the two-time U17 world champion, had to settle for silver after losing to Nonoka Ozaki in the 62kg final. In another India-Japan final, Priyanka lost 0-8 to Japan’s Mahiro Yoshitake in the 65kg category.
A look at Antim Panghal’s career
Previously, Antim Panghal won bronze at the Cadet World Championships in 2021 and gold at the Asian Junior Championships (2022). This year, she also took silver at the U23 Asian Championships. During the Commonwealth Games selection trials in June, Antim faced Vinesh Phogat and led 3-1 until the final 10 seconds, when Phogat turned things around to win the match.
