India’s Priya Malik, on Thursday, clinched the gold medal in women’s 76kg at the ongoing U-20 World Wrestling Championships in Amman, Jordan.
Malik defeated Germany’s Laura Celine Kuehn 5-0 to become only the second Indian woman to be crowned the U-20 world champion following a bout which had to be stopped twice due to excessive bleeding by the Indian.
Malik’s win comes just a day after Mohit Kumar won India’s first gold medal at the ongoing championships with a win over Eldar Akhmaduniov in the men’s 61kg weight division.
Antim Panghal, two others enter final
Anitm Panghal, who became the first ever Indian woman junior world champion last year, continued her domination in women’s 53kg as she stormed her way into yet another final.
Panghal, who had recently challenged Vinesh Phogat’s direct qualification to the upcoming 2022 Asian Games, defeated Polina Lukina 12-0 on technical superiority in the semi-finals.
Earlier, Panghal had started her campaign with a dominating victory by fall against Poland’s Nikola Monika Wisniewska in the first round. She then defeated China’s Liang Xuejing 12-2 in the quarter-finals.
Later Savita (62kg) and Antim Kundu (65kg) too made their way into the final of their respective weight categories. This is the first-time ever that four Indian women have reached the final in a single edition of the U-20 World Championships.
While Savita pinned France’s Iris Thiebaux in the semi-finals after getting better of Japan’s Suzu Sasaki in the quarter-finals, Kundu defeated Ekaterina Koshkina 9-5 to reach the final.
Harshita, in 72kg, entered the bronze medal contest following a semi-final loss against Turkey’s Bukrenaz Sert.
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