Manisha Bhanwala fights back from 0-6 to become India's first women's world wrestling champion

A four-point throw, a caution and a lost Indian challenge left Manisha Bhanwala trailing 0-6 in the 59kg final at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 30 October. She beat Abigail Nette of the USA 8-6 and became India’s first women’s world wrestling champion, according to United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport’s governing body.

The caveat: 59kg is not an Olympic weight. She told UWW that next year, at the World Championships in Las Vegas, she will try to win the title at 57kg, which is.

Eight straight points

According to UWW’s report, Bhanwala forced a stepout just before the break (1-6). In the second period came a takedown plus a failed US challenge (4-6), a two-point gut-wrench (6-6) and a final pressure takedown (8-6). Nette did not score again. “Bharandaaj [gut-wrench] is my favorite move,” she said afterwards.

“Some people are born to create history, and maybe I was the one,” she told the ANI news agency on arriving in Delhi. Her mother, Meena Devi, put it simply: “I’m so proud of my daughter; she brought home the gold from the World Wrestling Championships.”

Four medals for India’s women

India’s women wrestlers leave Astana with four medals: Bhanwala’s gold, silvers for Neelam Sirohi (50kg) and Kajal Dhochak (76kg), and bronze for Tanu Sharma (72kg), who beat Precious Bell of the USA 9-5. Until now, the only Indian woman to reach a world final was Anshu Malik, silver in 2021.

Why it’s good news

India had only one world wrestling champion: Sushil Kumar, gold at 66kg in 2010. Sixteen years later, the second title goes to a woman, alongside three more medals for her teammates. Bhanwala thanked the Wrestling Federation of India and the camps run under TOPS, the Indian government’s support scheme for Olympic athletes.

Where she comes from adds weight to the title. Bhanwala is from Rohtak, in Haryana, the state the 2011 census found to have India’s most skewed sex ratio: 879 women for every 1,000 men. There, wrestling has become a path for girls. At the Rohtak stadium where Sakshi Malik, India’s first female Olympic wrestling medallist (bronze in 2016), learned the sport, around 70 girls practise and at least 20 hold international titles, her coach Mandeep told The Tribune in 2022.

Next comes the move down in weight. At 57kg she lost in the quarter-finals of this year’s Asian Games to Japan’s Akari Fujinami, India TV reports. “Next year is going to be really important for me. I need to avoid injuries, focus on my recovery, and give it my best,” she told ANI.