Wrestling
Asian Wrestling C'ships: Manisha Bhanwala wins her first Asian title
Meanwhile, Antim Panghal clinched the bronze medal in the women's 53kg category.
Manisha Bhanwala
Indian women wrestlers had mixed results on the fourth day of the 2025 Asian Wrestling Championships, as Manisha Bhanwala won the nation's first gold medal while Antim settled for bronze in Amman, Jordan, on Friday.
Three-time Asian medalist Manisha Bhanwala reached the final of the women's 62 kg for the first time and took that all the way to clinch her maiden continental gold against Kim Ok-Ju of North Korea.
Maiden Asian title for Manisha
In the final, Manisha started with an early attack to win a take down and gain a narrow lead at the half time. Meanwhile, Kim bounced back in the second round to take a good lead using a couple of shoulder turns.
Manisha didn't lose her hope and made a brilliant comeback to win two back-to-back take downs in the final minute and clinched the title, edging past Kim by 8-7.
This was India's first gold medal from the championships and also the first Asian title for an Indian female wrestler after four years.
Manisha had a brilliant day overall, as she clinched three dominant wins in earlier rounds to reach the final of the competition. She dropped just one point throughout the day en route to the final.
Antim settles for Bronze medal
Paris Olympian Antim Panghal clinched the first medal of the day for India, winning a bronze medal in women's 53 kg with a dominant 10-0 win by technical superiority against Hsieh Meng-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei.
Antim had very tough matches on the day where she just edged past (10-6) the former world silver-medalist Zhang Jin of China to reach the semi-finals before going down 0-10 by technical superiority against world Champion Moe Kiyooka of Japan.
In women's 72 kg, Jyoti Berwal had a big heartbreak as she lost her match against former world champion Masako Furuichi of Japan in the final ten seconds, ending her campaign in the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, the youngsters Neha Sharma (57 Kg) and Monika (65 Kg) had a tough outing on their debut Asian Championships, losing by technical superiority to the Chinese wrestlers.
