Indian Wrestlers Face Tough Day at 2025 Senior Asian Wrestling Championship
Disappointing Results for Indian Wrestlers
Amman [Jordan], March 29: The Indian wrestling team experienced a challenging day on Saturday, failing to secure any spots in the medal rounds during the Freestyle Wrestling events at the 2025 Senior Asian Wrestling Championship.
As reported by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Chirag, who is the reigning U23 World Champion in the 57kg category, was eliminated early after losing his first match to a competitor from Kyrgyzstan. His chances for a repechage round were extinguished when the Kyrgyz wrestler was defeated by a Mongolian, thus ending Chirag's hopes for a medal.
In the 65kg category, Sujit began with a promising victory in his opening match, keeping India's hopes alive. Unfortunately, he was defeated by a Japanese wrestler in the subsequent round and suffered an injury that led to his withdrawal from the tournament.
Other Indian wrestlers, including Vishal Kaliraman (70kg), Chandermohan (79kg), and Jonty (97kg), also faced defeats in their matches, which dashed their medal aspirations.
Looking forward, five weight categories remain in the Freestyle Wrestling competition, with Udit (61kg) and Deepak Punia (92kg) anticipated to be strong contenders for medals in the upcoming matches.
Earlier, Indian wrestlers Manisha Bhanwala (62 kg) and Antim Panghal (53 kg) achieved remarkable success by winning gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2025 in Amman, Jordan, on Friday, as noted by Olympics.com.
Manisha Bhanwala clinched India’s first women’s freestyle wrestling gold medal at this continental event since 2021 by defeating Ok J Kim from North Korea with a score of 8-7 in the final.
Previously, Vinesh Phogat and Sarita Mor had won their respective categories in the 2021 edition. Manisha's journey to the gold began with a victory over Kazakhstan's Tynys Dubek through technical superiority.
She then pinned down Hanbit Lee from South Korea in the quarterfinals before overcoming Kyrgyzstan's defending champion Kalmira Bilimbek Kyzy with a score of 5-1.
Despite trailing 2-7 against Ok J Kim, Manisha made a stunning comeback to secure the gold medal.
Antim Panghal, returning to international competition after the Paris 2024 Olympics, earned a bronze in the 53kg division. She started her campaign with a 10-6 win over World Championships silver medallist Jin Zhang from China but lost to Japan's 55kg world champion Moe Kiyooka in the semi-finals.
Antim then defeated Meng Hsuan Hsieh from Chinese Taipei via technical superiority to claim her bronze medal.
With these two medals, India’s total at the championships has risen to seven, comprising one gold, one silver, and five bronze medals.
Reetika Hooda, the reigning U23 world champion, secured a silver medal in the women’s freestyle 76kg division on Thursday. Earlier in the competition, Muskan (women’s 59kg), Mansi Lather (women’s 68kg), and Greco-Roman wrestlers Nitesh (97kg) and Sunil Kumar (87kg) also won bronze medals.
Unfortunately, the remaining three Indian wrestlers—Neha Sharma (57kg), Monika (65kg), and Jyoti Berwal (72kg)—did not manage to secure any medals on the day.