U-23 World Wrestling Championships: Ankush Panghal bags silver; Mansi claims bronze medal
Oct 21, 2022
Pontevedra [Spain], October 21 : India's medal rush at the U-23 World Wrestling Championships 2022 continued with Ankush Panghal winning silver in the women's 50kg category and Mansi Ahlawat bagging a bronze in the women's 59kg event in Pontevedra, Spain, on Thursday.
India have now bagged five medals, one silver and four bronze, at the age-group worlds in Cairo. The three other bronze medals were confirmed by Greco-Roman grapplers over the first couple of days.
After defeating Snizhana Onufriieva of Ukraine by technical superiority in her first bout, Ankush Panghal, who became the U20 Asian champion earlier this year in the 57kg, defeated Germany's Ersel Lisa in a similar fashion in the quarter-finals.
The Indian wrestler appeared to be up for a more rigid challenge in the semis against Egypt's Nada Medani Ashour Abdalla Mohamed but eventually tacked the former African champion to make the gold medal bout.
Up against Japan's Yui Susaki, the Tokyo Olympic champion in the category and a world champion, Ankush struggled to make any inroads and suffered a defeat in the match by fall in just under two minutes. The Japanese wrestler caught Ankush in a leg lock early on and dominated the bout from there on out.
The victory also saw Yui Susaki become the first wrestler in history to complete the wrestling Grand Slam - winning gold medals across all major competitions in the sport.
