Manisha Bhanwala Wins Gold, Antim Panghal Takes Bronze at Asian Wrestling Championships 2025

Indian wrestlers Manisha Bhanwala and Antim Panghal made the country proud on Friday at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2025 in Amman, Jordan. Manisha grabbed the gold medal in the women’s 62kg category, while Antim secured a bronze in the 53kg division. Their victories added to India’s growing medal count at the event and brought smiles to fans back home.

Manisha Bhanwala’s journey to gold was exciting. She faced a tough opponent, Ok J Kim from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in the final. The match was close, and Manisha trailed 2-7 at one point. But she didn’t give up. Instead, she fought back hard and turned the score to 8-7 in her favor, winning India’s first women’s freestyle gold at this championship since 2021. Before this, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sarita Mor had won gold in their categories at the 2021 event.

Manisha’s path to the final was impressive too. She started with a strong win over Kazakhstan’s Tynys Dubek, finishing the match quickly with technical superiority. Next, she pinned Republic of Korea’s Hanbit Lee in the quarterfinals. Then, she beat Kyrgyzstan’s Kalmira Bilimbek Kyzy, the defending champion, 5-1 in another quarterfinal match. After earning bronze medals from 2022 to 2024, Manisha finally stepped up to gold this time, showing her growth as a wrestler.

🥇 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚

Manisha Bhanwala clinches India’s first gold medal at the 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 in Jordan!#Wrestling #ManishaBhanwala pic.twitter.com/ocAwxDNu02

— DD India (@DDIndialive) March 29, 2025

Meanwhile, Antim Panghal returned to international wrestling after the Paris 2024 Olympics and claimed a bronze medal in the 53kg category. She began her campaign with a solid 10-6 win over China’s Jin Zhang, who won silver at the World Championships. 

However, Antim faced a tough challenge in the semifinals against Japan’s Moe Kiyooka, the 55kg world champion, and lost by technical superiority. But she bounced back in the bronze medal match, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Meng Hsuan Hsieh with a perfect 10-0 score, also by technical superiority. Her performance showed her determination and skill.

With these two medals, India’s total at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2025 reached seven, one gold, one silver, and five bronze. On Thursday, Reetika Hooda, the reigning U23 world champion, won a silver medal in the women’s 76kg freestyle division. 

Earlier in the competition, Muskan in the women’s 59kg, Mansi Lather in the women’s 68kg, and Greco-Roman wrestlers Nitesh in the 97kg and Sunil Kumar in the 87kg categories added bronze medals to India’s tally. However, not everyone had a successful day. Three other Indian wrestlers, Neha Sharma (57kg), Monika (65kg), and Jyoti Berwal (72kg), competed on Friday but didn’t win any medals.

Now, attention shifts to the next two days of the championship. Indian men’s freestyle wrestlers, including Deepak Punia, who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, will take the mat.

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