India secures nine medals in Asian Wrestling Championships 2024

Thirty Indian wrestlers participated in the six-day meet, which ended on Tuesday. Ten wrestlers competed in each category: men's freestyle, men's Greco-Roman, and women's freestyle.

Bishkek: The Indian contingent finished the Asian Wrestling Championships 2024 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with nine medals, which included four silvers and five silvers.

A total of 30 Indian wrestlers competed at the six-day meet, which concluded on Tuesday. Among the 30 grapplers, ten wrestlers each took part in men’s freestyle, men’s Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle.

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In the men’s freestyle, the U20 Asian champion, Udit, won the silver medal in the 57 kg, while Abhimanyu (70kg) and Vicky (97kg) won the bronze medals in their respective weight divisions on the opening day.

While in women’s wrestling, 23-year-old Radhika bagged the silver medal in the 68kg category, while Shivanee Pawar won a bronze medal in the 50 kg category on Saturday.

Anju and Harshita went on to win silver medals in the 53kg and 72kg categories, respectively. Grapplers Manisha (62kg) and Antim Panghal (65kg) settled for bronze medals.

Anju fell short in the final as she suffered a 10-0 defeat by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Ji Hyang Kim and ended up settling for a silver medal.

Harshita suffered a similar fate as she lost by 5-2 to Qian Jiang of China in the gold medal match of the women’s 72kg and secured the silver medal.

World Championships bronze medallist and two-time Asian champion Sarita Mor, who featured in women’s 57kg, crashed out of the tournament empty-handed after losing her match in the quarter-finals.

At the last edition of the continental championships held in Amman, Indian wrestlers clinched 14 medals, which consisted of one gold, three silvers and ten bronze medals.

As of now, India have secured only one Paris 2024 Olympic quota in wrestling. Antim Panghal sealed her spot in the Summer Games after winning the bronze medal in the women’s 53kg at the 2023 World Championships.