World Wrestling Championship 2023: Antim Panghal loses in semifinal after defeating world champion, to fight for bronze medal

Belgrade (Serbia), Sep 20: Rising Indian wrestler Antim Panghal on Wednesday (September 20) suffered a defeat in the semifinals of the ongoing World Championships in Belgrade to now compete in the bronze medal bout and secure an Olympic quota.

The 19-year-old grappler, competing in the 53 kg category, first stunned reigning champion Olivia Dominique Parrish in the qualification round but her charge was halted in the last-four stage. World Wrestling Championships 2023 trials: Antim Panghal, Divya Kakran, Sarita Mor seal spots

To her dismay, Panghal lost the semifinal bout to world No.23 Vanesa Kaladzinskaya -- a Belarusian competing as a neutral athlete -- on technical points 5-4. The Indian grappler will now have to fight for a bronze medal and secure a Paris Olympic quota for herself.

The Hisar (Haryana) girl can still earn an Olympic quota if she wins the bronze-medal match or emerges triumphant in the bout between the losers of the bronze-medal contest, the repechage.

Underlining her growth and a smooth transition from the junior to the senior circuit, the two-time U20 champion won the first three bouts of the day to enter the semifinal even as other Indian contenders bit the dust in their respective categories.

The two-time U20 champion Panghal slipped to a 0-2 deficit at the start of the bout against USA's Parrish but edged her rival 3-2 in the opening round. She later outplayed Poland's Roksana Marta Zasina by technical superiority and followed it up with a 9-6 win over Russian Natalia Malysheva, who is competing as a neutral athlete.

Earlier, American Parrish swung into action with a quick take-down move from a right-leg attack. Unperturbed, the 19-year-old Indian began to defend well and foiled two similar attempts, not conceding any more points till the end of the first period.

With her strong defence continuing, Panghal did not let Parrish make any attacking move and as a result, the American was put on the clock. Panghal got hold of the American's left leg and converted that into a successful take-down move to draw parity.

She tried to get a leg lace but could not pull off the move. The American lost a point on passivity. Standing wrestling followed and Panghal defended her slender lead to walk out a winner. Asian Games 2023 wrestling trials: Is Antim Panghal worthy rival for Vinesh Phogat?

She needed only one minute and 38 seconds to outplay Zasina in her next bout, beating the Poland wrestler by technical superiority to move into the quarterfinals. After two take-down moves, Panghal pulled off leg-lace move with perfection to finish the bout in a jiffy.

In the quarterfinal, she led 6-0 but Natalia from Russia effected a comeback with a take-down and consecutive gut-wrench points to make it 6-6. On counter-attack, Panghal took the lead again.

The Indian extended the lead with a left-leg attack which she converted into a take-down. After that, about 30 seconds were still left in the bout but Paghal denied her rival. U20 Wrestling World Championships: Antim Panghal becomes first Indian grappler to lift successive gold medals

However, Manisha (62kg), Priyanka (68kg) and Jyoti Berwal (72kg) lost their bouts and exited the tournament. All 10 men's freestyle wrestlers have already exited the tournament without winning either an Olympic quota or a medal in non-Olympic categories. All Indian athletes are competing under the UWW flag because the wrestling federation is suspended.

(With PTI inputs)