Wrestling U23 World C'ships: Komal bags bronze in women’s 59kg

Komal won bronze in the women’s 59kg category at the 2026 U23 World Championships in Las Vegas, USA, on Friday, defeating Kazakhstan’s Viktoriia Khusainova 7-2 in the bronze medal bout.

Meanwhile, Amruta Pujari advanced to the women’s 72kg final with two pinfall victories.

This is India’s second medal at the championship after Visvajit More (55kg) scripted history by becoming country’s first-ever greco roman wrestler to win a silver.

Pujari, a wrestler from Solapur, Maharashtra, will take on Ukraine’s Iryna Zablotska in the gold-medal bout. She opened her campaign with a fall against Kazakhstan’s Sabyrzhanova and followed it with another pin against China’s Wenjin Qiu in the semifinal.

The Indian established a 7-1 lead over Sabyrzhanova before ending the contest by fall. Against Qiu, Pujari was leading 10-8 when she secured the decisive pin to book her place in the final.

Sweety and Vaishnavi Patil are in contention for bronze through repechage.

For Komal, the bronze is the second world medal of the year, having won a bronze at the U20 World Championships. Komal defeated E Finding in the quarterfinals 1-1 followed by a one-sided win over M Prisacari 8-3.

Diksha Malik, another Indian in medal contention in women's 76kg category, lost to Ukraine's Sokolovska N 0-5 in a little less than 3 minutes.

At the previous edition in Novi Sad (Serbia), Indian wrestlers had won nine medals including one gold, two silvers and six bronze. Aman Sehrawat (men’s 57kg) in 2022, Reetika Hooda (women’s 76kg) in 2023, Chirag Chikkara (men’s 57kg) in 2024 and Sujeet Kalkal (men’s 65kg) in 2025 have won gold medals at the U23 World Championships.