Priyanshi Prajapat went down to Kazakhstan’s Zeinep Bayanova in the final at the Muhamet Malo 2026 wrestling tournament in Tirana, Albania. Muskan added to India’s tally a bronze in the women’s 50kg freestyle category on Thursday.
Priyanshi, the reigning Under-23 Asian champion, finished with silver after a 13-2 loss in the final to senior Asian Championships bronze medallist Zeinep Bayanova of Kazakhstan. This was the 21-year-old Indian wrestler’s first medal at a UWW Ranking Series event.
Earlier in the draw, Priyanshi pinned neutral athlete Valeriia Tiukpiekova in the semifinals following a 10-2 quarter-final win over Pan-American Championships silver medallist Erin Golston of the USA. She had opened her campaign with a technical superiority victory over Brazil’s Oliveria de Freitas.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Muskan, a former Under-17 world champion, mounted a strong comeback to win the bronze after defeating Kendra Ryan of the USA 10-0 in the medal bout. She was beaten 12-1 by Zeinep Bayanova in the semifinals.
This was Muskan’s second medal for India in a ranking series, following her bronze at the Zagreb Open in Croatia earlier this month. Another Indian, Neelam, had won the silver in the division in Croatia.
India narrowly missed out on three more medals on the day, with Pushpa (women’s 55kg), Sagar Jaglan (men’s 79kg) and Jointy Kumar (men’s 97kg) losing their respective bronze medal bouts.
India’s tally at the second UWW Ranking Series event of the year rose to three. On Wednesday, Sujeet Kalkal, a Under-23 world champion, won the gold medal in the men’s 65kg division.
India have sent a 48-member wrestling team for the Muhamet Malo 2026, with 16 each entered across the men’s freestyle, the women’s divisions and the Greco-Roman categories.
Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat and two-time World Wrestling Championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal are not part of the Indian contingent.
