Seasoned Indian wrestler Manisha Bhanwala clinched India's first gold medal at the Asian Championships since 2021 edition with a close 8-7 win over Korea's Ok J Kim while Antim Panghal settled for a bronze, in Amman, Jordan, on Friday.
Manisha (62kg) began with an easy technical superiority win over Kazakhstan's Tynys Dubek and pinned Korea's Hanbit Lee for another dominating win. The semi-final was no different, as she conceded only one point to eventually win 5-1 against Kalmira Bilimbek Kyzy.
In the title clash, Manisha looked down and out, trailing 2-7 but logged six points in a row to grab her first gold medal at the Asian Championships.
She had three podium finishes at the tournament before but they were all bronze medal efforts.
In the 2021 edition on Almaty, Vinesh Phogat and Sarita Mor had won gold medals.
The 20-year-old Panghal, competing in her first international event after a disappointing show at the Paris Olympics, beat China's Jin Zhang in the 53kg quarterfinal but was no match for Japan's Moe Kiyooka, who won by technical superiority.
In the opening three-minute period, Panghal, India's first U20 world champion, did not score any point but conceded one. In the second period, she tried hard but Kiyooka was too strong in her defence.
Panghal was put on clock and in those 30 seconds, the Japanese made two moves to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Panghal then lost a point on passivity.
The Japanese was unstoppable as she took Panghal down and then flipped her to end the contest.
In the bronze play-off, she was dominant against Taipei's Meng H Hsieh, winning by technical superiority without conceding a point.
Neha Sharma (57kg), Monika (65kg) and Jyoti Beriwal (72kg) could not reach the medal rounds.
Indian wrestlers have now won one gold, one silver and six bronze medals, including two by Greco Roman wrestlers in the tournament.
The men's freestyle competition will begin on Saturday.
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