File photo of Antim Panghal.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Antim Panghal (53kg) and Harshita (72kg) clinched gold medals in the Budapest Ranking Series wrestling event.
World championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal defeated Natalia Malysheva, who had beaten Natalia twice in the Ulaanbaatar Ranking Series, recorded a 7-4 victory in the final.
Earlier, Antim got past Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgil 10-0 to avenge her Paris Olympics loss before seeing off USA’s Felicity Taylor 10-0 in the semifinals.
Harshita overcame reigning Asian champion and Worlds silver medallist Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan 10-0 to win all her four round robin matches and emerge as the champion.
The 19-year-old, who secured gold in Ulaanbaatar Ranking Series and Asian under-20 championships recently, also beat Frenchwoman Pauline Lecarpentier (who was disqualified for pushing the Indian after being pinned) and Ksenila Burakova ‘by fall’ and got a walkover against Kristina Bratchikova.
Promising teenager Neha Sangwan was pinned by former Worlds and Olympic champion Helen Maroulis of the USA in the 57kg summit clash to claim the silver. Neelam (50kg) bagged a bronze.
Published – July 19, 2025 03:33 pm IST
