Asian Wrestling Championships: Young Indian wrestler Antim Panghal enters the final

India's young wrestler Antim Panghal displayed a fine counter-attack form to enter the final of the 53kg category at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Also Read: Asian Wrestling Championships: Nisha Dahiya and Priya won a silver and a bronze medal in their respective weight divisions

The 18-year-old Panghal, who became the first Indian woman wrestler to become the Under-20 world champion last year, easily outclassed her rivals. She conceded just one point en route to the Asian Wrestling Championships final. Although, Panghal lost a point in the semifinals against Uzbekistan's Aktenge Keunimjaeva due to a warning but won the match comfortably 8-1. She started her campaign with a comfortable win over Singapore's Hsiao Ping Alvina Lim. She also followed it up with a 6-0 win over China's Li Deng in the quarterfinals. Panghal will be up against 2021 world champion Akari Fujinami of Japan. Fujinami has hardly lost a match since she started competing at the senior level in 2020, for the gold medal.

While Anshu Malik was unable to break the defense of Japan's Sae Nanjo at the Asian Wrestling Championships and will now fight for the bronze medal. The 2021 World Championships silver-medallist Anshu struggled to score points against reigning U-23 world champion Nanjo.

The Japanese grappler also showed aggression in the first period while Anshu lost a point for being passive. While Nanjo also lost points for passivity in the second period. But she dominated after that, and the Japanese was leading 5-1 when the referee stopped the bout. Anshu was injured during the bout and if she is fit, she will take on Mongolia's Erdenesuvd Bat Erdene for the bronze medal.

Also Read: Asian Wrestling Championships: Greco-Roman grappler Vikas bagged bronze on the second day

Meanwhile, Manisha (65kg), Reetika (72kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg) will fight for the bronze medals. Sonam had lost to Mongolia's Orkhon Purevdorj in the quarterfinals. But after her opponent reached the final, Sonam got a chance to make a comeback in the Asian Wrestling Championships.

India has so far won six medals in the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023. Of these, Greco-Roman wrestlers have won four medals. On Tuesday, Nisha Dahiya (68kg) won silver, and Priya (76kg) won bronze.