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0-6 down to historic gold! Manisha Bhanwala becomes India’s first female World Wrestling champion

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 30 Oct 2026 1 hour ago

New Delhi: Manisha Bhanwala created history on Friday by becoming the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Wrestling World Championships. The 29-year-old defeated American wrestler Abigail Nette 8-6 in the women’s 59kg final in Astana, Kazakhstan, ending India’s long wait for a world champion in the women’s category.

Manisha’s victory was particularly special as she made a comeback from a 0-6 down to beat the Pan American champion. The wrestler from Rohtak, Haryana, showed great composure under pressure and scored eight points to seal a memorable win.

With this achievement, Manisha also became only the second Indian wrestler to win a gold medal at the World Championships after Sushil Kumar, who claimed the men’s 66kg title in 2010.

Manisha Bhanwala leads historic campaign for Indian women

Manisha’s gold medal capped a memorable campaign for India’s women wrestlers at the championships. For the first time, three Indian women reached the gold medal bouts in the same edition of the tournament.

Neelam Sirohi (50kg) and Kajal Dhochak (76kg) had also reached the finals but had to settle for silver medals after losing their respective bouts on Thursday. Tanmu Sharma also added another medal to India’s tally with a bronze.

Manisha, meanwhile, booked her place in the final with a dominant performance against Kazakhstan’s Altyn Shagayeva in the semi-finals.

India’s long wait for women’s World Championships gold ends

India had been waiting for 39 years to win a gold medal in the women’s category at the Wrestling World Championships. Though, Anshu Malik had become the first Indian woman to reach a World Championships final in 2021 but had to settle for silver. Neelam and Kajal repeated that achievement in the current edition before Manisha went one step further.

Her remarkable comeback against Nette has now given Indian wrestling its first women’s world champion, marking a major moment for the sport in the country.

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