Asian Wrestling C'ships: Meenakshi Goyat bags women's 53kg silver medal

Meenakshi Goyat clinched the women's freestyle 53kg silver medal at the 2026 Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday.

India finished the women's freestyle competition with four bronze and a silver medal.

Meenaskhi, who booked her spot for Asian Championships after knocking out two-time world medallist Antm Panghal at national selection trials, had a good outing on debut.

She defeated wrestlers from Uzbekistan and South Korea to book her spot in the final, which proved to be too big a task for her, losing in just 53 seconds to China's Zhang Jin.

However, the 25-year-old has had a good start to the year, winning two silver medals in two international events, first at the Muhamat Malo Ranking Series and now here at Asian C'ships.

On the other hand, Monika Sheoran bagged the women's 65kg bronze medal, defeating South Korea's Hanbit Lee 9-0 in the bronze medal match.

Following her, the 21-year-old Harshita Mor also bagged a bronze with a victory by fall over Sevinchoy Polvonova of Turkmenistan in the women's 72kg category.

Indian men's freestyle wrestlers also began their campaign with a blast, having three finalists - Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Abhinyou Mandwal (70kg), and Sandeep Man (79kg) - from the first day.

They will compete for gold on Saturday, alongside Ankush Chandram in the 57kg category and Vicky Hooda in the 97kg category, who will both be fighting for bronze medals.