Sarita, who won gold at the 2020 championships in New Delhi, trailed 1-7 after a botched challenge but turned it around with a tremendous fightback against Mongolia's Shoovdor Baatarjav in the final.
Mixing strong defence with measured attack, young wrestler Antim Panghal won her second World Championship medal with a dominating 9-1 victory over U-23 World Champion Emma Jonna Denise Malmgren in the bronze play-off in Zagreb on Thursday, ensuring that the Indian contingent won't return empty-handed from the Croatian capital.
Manisha Bhanwala clinched India's first gold medal at the Asian Championships since 2021 edition with a close 8-7 win over Korea's Ok J Kim.
Anju, Harshita reach final, Sarita Mor eliminated from Asian Championships
Vinesh demonstrated her dominance by defeating Jyoti in just two minutes.
Wrestling's world governing body UWW has suspended Bajrang Punia till the end of this year following NADA's decision to hand him a provisional suspension for refusing to undergo a dope test.
The Wrestling Federation of India on Tuesday decided to exempt all six Olympic quota winners from selection trials.
World championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, one of the country's top wrestlers, on Wednesday alleged that WFI president Singh has been sexually exploiting women wrestlers for years, a charge vehemently rejected by the BJP MP.
The 19-year-old Panghal put up a dominant show in the 53kg category, winning all her bouts without much fuss.
The allegations were levelled by prominent grapplers such as Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya.
Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal raised a question on Friday as to why the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has not been asked to resign, in the wake allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by female wrestlers.
Celebrated Indian grappler Yogeshwar Dutt neither praised nor criticised the new selection policy of the IOA-constituted ad-hoc panel for wrestling, which states that Olympic quota winners will have to compete against a challenger to book a ticket to the Paris Games.
Antim Panghal once again confirmed her emergence as one of the top wrestlers in the country by winning the World Championships trials in Patiala on Friday.
Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sarita Mor and Sakshi Malik, who staged a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar for three days demanding the sacking of the WFI president, posted identical tweets on the micro-blogging site, expressing their dismay.
Babita, a former wrestler, arrived at the protest site and heard the demands of the grapplers.
The ad-hoc committee member added that the wrestlers' demand to hold the Worlds trials on or after August 20, as they need time to recover from the Asian Games trials, was "not feasible".
The World Championship trials are expected to be held by August 10, giving the wrestlers, who competed in Asian Games selection competition, just about 17 days to be ready for another gruelling contest.
Vinesh Phogat outclassed reigning European Champion Emma Malmgren of Sweden 8-0 in the women's 53kg event.
As the Indian wrestlers await the fate of underfire WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Rio Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik threatened to quit the sport if action isn't taken.
Anshu Malik created history on Wednesday, becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the World Championships final. She outclassed junior European champion Solomiia Vynnyk, even as Sarita Mor lost her semi-final after shocking World champion Linda Morais of Canada earlier in the day.
Manisha had ousted Sangeeta Phogat, wife of Bajrang Punia, 7-5 in the semifinals.
The government is unhappy with the wrestlers' behaviour and will not reconstitute the oversight committee formed to probe the sexual harassment charges against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Olympic-bound wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik won their maiden Asian Championship titles after comfortable triumphs in their respective summit clashes in Almaty on Friday.
Sushma Shokeen also earned a podium finish at the Asian Wrestling Championship here on Thursday
Wrestlers sound alarm over training disruption, urge SAI to reopen centres
The Congress demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi answer what action he took against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh when issues were allegedly flagged to him by a wrestler in 2021.
Tokyo-bound Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia pulled off a two-pointer in the last 30 seconds of the gold medal bout to defend his title at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event in Rome.
The Greco Roman style, a poor cousin of free style wrestling in India, had a lot cheer with historic three-medal performance at the U-23 World Championships through Sajan Bhanwala, Nitesh and Vikas.
Anshu Malik settled for a silver medal after losing her 57kg final to 2016 Olympic champion Helen Lousie Maroulis but Sarita Mor grabbed her maiden medal at the big stage by winning the 59kg bronze, in Oslo, Norway on Thursday.
'The Sports Minister (Anurag Thakur) should speak out. The Prime Minister should speak out, there should be resignations, and heads should roll immediately.'
Divya Kakran led the pack with a stunning performance before Sarita Mor and Pinki grabbed gold in their respective categories as India dominated the opening day of women's competition at the Asian Wrestling Championships, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Pooja Dhanda claimed gold in the 59kg category while Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik settled for a silver medal in the 65kg category
Vinesh, a world championship medallist and Olympian, also claimed that several coaches at the national camp in Lucknow have also exploited women wrestlers, adding that there are a few women at the camp who approach wresters at the behest of the WFI President.
Star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat won her second gold medal in as many weeks with a dominant win in the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event in Rome, which also saw her reclaim the World No 1 ranking in her category.
The wrestler became the World No 1 in the 65kg category
"I want to dedicate my gold to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. He has inspired me," Punia tweeted after his victory.
Pooja Dhanda, a world championship medallist, said that lack of competition has crippled wrestlers.
The World Championships will be held in Budapest from October 20-28.
Proving her mettle yet again, young Sonam Malik downed Sakshi Malik for the second time in a row, this time by pinning the Olympic medallist, to make it to the Indian team for next month's Olympic Qualifiers, in Lucknow, on Wednesday. She first got past Radhika and then caring little for reputations, Sonam beat the Asian Championship 59kg gold medallist Sarita Mor (3-1) in the semi-finals before register a victory by fall against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi in the final.
Anshu Malik and Sonam Malik are best friends, thanks to a timely truce called by their parents and coaches.
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