Antim Panghal wins gold at U-20 Wrestling World Championships
On Friday, 18-year-old Antim Panghal etched her name in record books. She became the first Indian female wrestler to grab gold at the Under 20 World Wrestling Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. She bested Kazakhstan's Altyn Shagayeva 8-0 in the finale in the women's 53kg category. Antim is only the fifth Indian to win a gold medal at the U-20 World Championships. Here's more.
A look at Antim's run to the final
Antim first overcame the European champion, Olivia Andrich, by technical superiority (11-0). She registered an emphatic win over Japan's Ayaka Kimura in a match that lasted less than a minute, and later, bested Ukraine's Natalie Klivchutska (11-2). Lastly, she trounced Shagayeva 8-0 in the final.
7 medals for India
Antim joins an elite company
As stated, Antim is only the fifth Indian to snare gold at the U-20 World Championships. Deepak Punia (Freestyle 86.0, 2019), Ramesh Kumar (Freestyle 69, 2001), Palwinder Singh Cheema (Freestyle 130, 2001), and Pappu Yadav (Greco-Roman 50, 1992) are the others to attain the feat.
Decoding Antim's early career achievements
In 2018, Antim won the U-15 national title in the 49kg category in Patna before emerging as the winner in the U-15 Asian Wrestling Championship in Japan later that year. In 2019, she snatched Cadet U-17 national title at the sub-junior nationals. It was followed by gold in the 2022 Cadet U-18 national title in Patna.
Antim aced the show in 2022 Asian Junior Championships
Notably, Antim is a bronze medallist at the 2021 Cadet World Championships and a gold medallist at the 2022 Asian Junior championships. She pocketed silver at the U-23 Asian Championships this year.
Antim shone in the Zouhaier Sghaier competition
In July, Antim participated in the coveted Zouhaier Sghaier competition, which is a world-ranking tournament, in Tunisia. She downed Tokyo Olympic quarter-finalist, Luisa Valverde, followed by a win over the 2022 Pan American champion, Dominique Parrish of the USA. Later, she outfoxed Karla Godinez, 2022 Pan American Champion in the 55kg category, to grab her maiden senior gold medal.
Antim put up a gutsy show versus Phogat
In May, Antim was on the cusp of pulling an upset over the then two-time Commonwealth Games winner, Vinesh Phogat. The former was leading by 3-0 with 15 seconds to go before losing on criteria 3-3 at the final selection trails for the 2022 CWG.
Presenting Antim's early life
Antim hails from Baghana near Hisar in Haryana. She is the fourth daughter of Ram Niwas Panghal. While her sisters focused on studies, Antim developed an interest in wrestling after watching the local wrestlers in action at the village akhada. That led to her joining the Baba Lal Das Wrestling Academy in 2015. She hasn't looked back ever since.
