Manisha Bhanwala claimed the gold medal while Antim Panghal bagged bronze in the women’s 57kg and 53kg freestyle categories, respectively, at the Zagreb Open 2026 wrestling tournament in Croatia on Saturday.
Asian champion Manisha Bhanwala began her campaign with a 9-4 win over Sweden’s Tindra Dalmyr in the qualifiers before registering a commanding 14-4 victory against Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova in the quarterfinals.
The Indian wrestler then went on to dominate Germany’s Amory Andrich 11-0 to enter the final, where she defeated former Under-23 world champion Himeka Tokuhara of Japan 3-0 to clinch India’s second gold at the Zagreb Open.
Antim Panghal, a two-time World Wrestling Championships bronze medallist and Olympian, also added to India’s medal tally in Zagreb with a podium finish in the 53kg category.
She opened her campaign with a resounding 11-0 win over USA’s Katie Gomez in the quarters before being edged out by another American grappler and the eventual champion, Everest Leydecker, in the semis. The bout ended in a 2-2 draw, but Antim lost on criteria.
In the bronze medal match, Antim Panghal registered an emphatic 10-0 victory over compatriot Anjali Kachhawa, who had lost to Everest Leydecker in the quarters.
Diksha Malik wins silver
Meanwhile, Diksha Malik also clinched silver in the 72kg women’s freestyle category. She overcame Croatia’s Veronika Vilk 4-0 in the quarterfinals and Kristina Bratchikova 4-2 in the semis.
In the final, Diksha Malik settled for silver after going down 5-2 to Paris 2024 bronze medallist Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu of Turkiye.
Priya also made the bronze medal bout in the women’s 76kg division but lost 6-0 to Kendra Dacher of France.
In the Greco-Roman events, India’s Aman was ousted from the 77kg division in the quarterfinals, while Rohit failed to progress beyond the qualifiers in the 87kg category.
The three medals on Saturday saw India’s medal haul at the Zagreb Open, the first UWW Ranking Series of the year, rise to 14, two gold, five silver and seven bronze.
On the opening day of the Zagreb Open, Under-23 world champion Sujeet Kalkal won India’s first gold medal in the 65kg weight division, while Paris 2024 bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat clinched a silver in the 61kg category.
(Source: Olympics.com)
