Indian women wrestlers clinched four medals, including two gold, a silver and a bronze at the Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial 2025 tournament at Budapest in Hungary yesterday.
Olympian Antim Panghal and Harshita won gold medals after winning their respective weight classes. Antim defeated Russia’s Natalia Malysheva 7-4 in the final of 53kg category. This marks her second international gold this year following her triumph at the Ulaanbaatar Open in May.
Harshita won India’s second gold medal of the day in the 72kg category with a dominant 10-0 win over four-time Asian champion Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan in the final round. Meanwhile, Neha Sangwan, had to settle for silver in the 57kg category after a 4-0 loss via pinfall in the final against former Olympic champion Helen Maroulis of USA.
In the Women’s 50kg, Neelam won bronze after beating Belarusian wrestler Kseniya Stankevich in the final. However, Jaideep failed to make it past the quarter-finals in the Men’s 74kg category. Yesterday’s medal haul takes India’s overall tally at the Budapest meet to six. India had won two medals on the opening day of the tournament on Thursday with Sujeet Kalkal winning gold in the 65kg men’s freestyle, while Rahul bagged bronze in the 57kg category.
The Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial in Budapest is the fourth and final wrestling ranking series of the year. The ranking points on offer will help wrestlers earn better seeding for the World Wrestling Championships, which will be held in Zagreb, Croatia in September. India have fielded wrestlers across men’s and women’s freestyle, as well as the Greco-Roman, in the ongoing Budapest meet, which concludes tomorrow.
