Published: July 19, 2026 at 8:59 am
An injured Antim Panghal had to settle for the silver, but Kajal Dhochak lit up the day by winning the gold medal in the women’s freestyle 76kg at the Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial 2026 wrestling tournament in Budapest on Saturday.
Antim was forced to settle for silver in the 53kg category even as Neha Sharma added a silver medal in the women’s 57kg category, while Nishu secured bronze in the women’s 53kg division as India finished the fourth day of the Budapest Ranking Series with four medals.
Competing in her first international tournament since winning bronze at the Zagreb Open in February, Antim, who is part of India’s Asian Games 2026 wrestling team, looked in commanding form before the final.
Aman bags gold as Indian wrestlers win three medals on Day One in Budapest wrestling meet
The 21-year-old Indian wrestler opened with three successive 10-0 technical superiority wins, downing Germany’s Bianka Fath, the People’s Republic of China’s Li Yuxuan and Cristelle Rodriguez of the USA.
Antim then edged reigning Asian champion Zhang Jin of China 7-5 in a gripping semifinal after surviving a lengthy pin attempt. However, she was forced to withdraw ahead of the gold medal bout against Sweden’s Emma Malmgren due to injury and finished with the silver medal.
Kajal impresses on way to gold
Kajal, the reigning Under-20 world champion, capped an impressive outing by clinching the women’s 76kg title. The Indian wrestler edged the former Pan American champion Dymond Guilford of the USA 3-3 on criteria in the gold medal bout.
In the semifinals, Kajal beat former European champion Alexandra Anghel of Romania 9-0 after a 3-0 win over Shuiyan Cheng of China.
Antim Panghal was forced to withdraw ahead of the gold medal bout against Sweden’s Emma Malmgren due to injury and finished with the silver medal. Pics: X/ United World Wrestling
Neha Sharma also enjoyed a fine run before settling for silver in the women’s 57kg category after losing by fall to Olympic medallist Hong Kexin of China in the final.
She had earlier edged Canada’s Mia Friesen 4-4 on criteria in the qualification round before defeating Pan American champion Amanda Martinez of the USA 6-1 in the quarterfinals and Brazil’s Giullia Penalber 4-0 in the semifinals.
Nishu bagged a bronze in the women’s 53kg category. After defeating Natia Svanidze 11-10, she lost to eventual finalist Emma Malmgren in the round of 16 but advanced to a bronze-medal match through repechage, where she beat Canada’s Madison Parks.
Nishu then beat Olympian Andreea Beatrice Ana of Romania 2-2 on criteria to claim the medal.
Wrestlers Aman, Antim, Deepak, Sujeet and Sunil Kumar book berths for Asian Games
Priya Malik lost 5-3 to China’s Wenji Li in the women’s 76kg bronze medal bout, while Anil went down 5-2 to Georgia’s Mishiko Aleksandria in the Greco-Roman 72kg bronze medal match after progressing through repechage.
Former Asian champion Sunil Kumar bowed out in the Greco-Roman 87kg round of 16 following a 5-3 defeat against Croatia’s Matej Mandić.
Diksha Malik (72kg) also failed to reach the medal rounds, while Tapsya exited the women’s 57kg competition during the qualification round due to injury.
The final day of the tournament on Sunday will feature Greco-Roman competition in the 55kg, 60kg, 63kg, 82kg, 97kg and 130kg categories.
India’s challenge will include Asian Games-bound wrestler Nitesh Kumar (97kg), Lalit (55kg), Chetan (60kg), Sumit (60kg), Sunny Kumar (63kg), Prince (82kg) and Deepanshu (130kg).
