Antim Panghal Makes History: First Indian Woman After Vinesh to Grab Multiple World Wrestling Medals
Antim Panghal etched her name in Indian wrestling history on Thursday, becoming the first woman wrestler after Vinesh Phogat to snag multiple medals at the Senior World Wrestling Championships. The 20-year-old star from Haryana clinched a bronze in the 53kg women’s freestyle category at the 2025 edition in Zagreb, Croatia.
In a dominant display, Antim crushed her Swedish rival 9-1 in the bronze medal bout, showcasing her skill and grit. This isn’t her first rodeo— she had already bagged a bronze at the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade, where she beat the same opponent 16-6 by technical superiority. With this win, Indian women’s wrestlers have now medaled in three straight World Championships, proving the rise of homegrown talent.
Antim’s path to the podium kicked off strong. She started with a 10-0 technical superiority win over Spain’s Carla Jaume Soler in the pre-quarterfinals. Things got nail-biting in the quarterfinals, where she edged out China’s Zhang Jin 9-8. But in the semifinals, she fell short 5-3 to Ecuador’s Paris 2024 silver medallist Lucía Yépez.
Meanwhile, fellow Indian grappler Manisha Bhanwala, the Asian champion in 62kg, couldn’t make it to the bronze match. She lost 9-0 to Bulgaria’s Bilyana Dudova in the repechage round, dashing hopes for another medal.
On the men’s side, India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers faced tough luck. None of the four could pull off a win on Thursday. In the 55kg pre-quarterfinals, Anil Mor went down 8-0 to Azerbaijan’s four-time world champion and world No. 1 Eldaniz Azizli. Aman in 77kg lost 8-0 by technical superiority to Japan’s Olympic gold medallist Nao Kusaka in the round of 32.
Rahul in 82kg put up a fight, scoring one point, but still fell 7-1 to Kazakhstan’s Almir Tolebayev in qualification. Sonu in the heavyweight 130kg category also exited early, losing 8-0 to Croatia’s Olympian Marko Koščević.
India sent a full-strength team with one wrestler in each weight class across men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, and Greco-Roman events. While the women shone with Antim’s bronze, the men’s freestyle squad returned empty-handed. A whopping 30 gold medals are up for grabs in this prestigious tournament, and eyes are now on the remaining bouts for more Indian glory.
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