Wrestling
Priya Malik becomes U-20 world champion
India equalled their best ever haul of 2 gold medals at the U20 World Wrestling Championships. More medals can be expected on Friday.
Priya Malik is the 2nd Indian woman after Antim Panghal to win the U20 world title. (UWW)
Priya Malik became just the second woman wrestler from India to be crowned U20 world champion as India won a second gold medal at the 2023 U20 World Wrestling Championships in Jordan on Thursday.
Antim Panghal had been the first woman from India to win a junior world title in wrestling at last year's edition.
Priya is the sixth wrestler from India after Palwinder Cheema (2001), Ramesh Kumar (2001), Deepak Punia (2019), Antim Panghal (2022) and Mohit Kumar (2023) to win a gold medal in the history of the U20 World Championships.
Priya, the 22-year-old from Haryana, beat Laura Celine Kuehn (Germany) by 5-0 in the women's 76kg freestyle wrestling final. In a true stamp of authority, Priya went the whole tournament without conceding a single point in any of her matches.
Priya has now won both the U17 (2021, 22) and U20 world titles in her short but promising career. She had won the silver medal at last year's U20 Worlds.
Mohit Kumar had won India's first gold of this edition on Wednesday. Antim Kundu, Antim Panghal and Savita have reached their finals, which will be on Friday.
India's best medal haul is of two gold medals in the 2001 U20 World Championships. If either or more of the three women win their finals on Friday, India will have overtaken that mark.
