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Hansika and Neha win bronze at Asian Wrestling, Meenakshi reaches 53kg final, several Indian women including Harshita and Monika to fight for bronze on Friday
Meenakshi Goyat with her father after defeating Antim Panghal in the women’s 53kg final at the Asian Wrestling Championships selection trials (PTI)
Hansika Lamba and Neha won a bronze medal each in the women’s 55kg and 59kg categories respectively, while two-time national champion Meenakshi Goyat came back from the brink to defeat South Korea’s Seoyoung Park and reach the final of the 53kg category at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships on Thursday.
In the women’s 55kg bronze medal bout, Hansika was cautious in the first round against Kyrgyzstan’s Aruuke Kadyrbek Kyzy.
The 19-year-old Indian then opened her account with a takedown in the first minute of the second round with a leg attack. She pressed home the advantage and won the bout 6-1.
Neha then added the seventh medal to India’s tally with a dominant 10-4 win over Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu in the women’s 59kg bronze medal play-off.
The men’s Greco-Roman wrestlers had already secured two silver and three bronze medals over the first three days of competition.
Can Meenakshi Make History?
Meenakshi, who earned her place in the Indian team by defeating world championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal, was trailing 0-2 until the last 30 seconds against the Korean on Thursday.
However, the 25-year-old stunned her opponent with a four-point throw and then held her ground to reach the final.
The former Asian U-23 champion will face China’s Jin Zhang, who defeated Japan’s Moe Kiyooka by fall, in the final.
Meanwhile, Harshita (72kg) and Monika (65kg) will aim for bronze medals on Friday.
Harshita lost 2-7 to 2024 Asian Championships gold medallist Mahiro Yoshitake of Japan in the women’s 72kg semifinal and will now face Sevinchoy Polvonova of Uzbekistan for the bronze medal.
In the women’s 65kg category, Monika lost to eventual finalist Nana Ikehata of Japan in the quarterfinals. She will now face losing semifinalist Hanbit Lee of South Korea in the bronze medal bout.
Minakshi (57kg) and Mansi (62kg) will also have a chance to win a medal after advancing to the repechage round.
In the repechage, Minakshi will face Kyrgyzstan’s Tancholpon Kybalbekova, while Mansi will take on Mongolia’s Tserenchimed Sukhee on Friday.
(With inputs from Agencies)
April 10, 2026, 09:37 IST
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