Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 Review: India's medalists, highs and lows from the tournament

Indian contingent returned from Astana as the

Hosts Kazakhstan ended the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 campaign in style as they defeated women’s wrestling powerhouse Japan to top the medal standings. Kazakhstan grabbed seven gold, four silver, and nine bronze medals to finish with the same number of medals as Japan but with more gold.

Japan collected six gold medals, out of which five were in women’s freestyle wrestling. In addition, they earned four silver and 10 bronze medals to bag the second position. Iran were placed third with six gold, three silver, and four bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023.

Kazakhstan bagged the hosting rights of the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 after the previous host India were stripped of their rights. This was because of a pending investigation on Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who was the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), the organizing body for the Wrestling Sport in India.

Previously, in January, many top wrestlers from India like Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia had alleged harassment and misconduct by the WFI president.

India’s performance at Asian Wrestling Championships 2023

Men’s Greco-Roman (Team Rank - 6th, Points - 115)

Courtesy of Rupin Gahlawat’s silver-medal triumph, India took the sixth spot in the team rankings in the men’s Greco-Roman wrestling at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023. Besides Rupin, the medalists in this event were Neeraj Chhikara, Sunil Kumar, and Vikas Dalal who won their respective bronze medal bouts.

Neeraj and Sunil got the better of their opponents Jinseob Song of South Korea by 5-2 and Masato Sumi by 4-1 (victory by points) to win the bronze medal in the men’s 63kg. Vikas defeated his Chinese rival by 8-0 via superiority. 

Women’s Wrestling (Team Rank - 3rd, Points - 143)

In the Women’s freestyle at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023, Antim Panghal (53kg) and Nisha Dahiya (68kg) were the best performers as they both clinched the silver medals in their respective weight classes. The other medalists in this category were Anshu Malik, Sonam Malik, Manisha Bhanwala, Reetika Hooda, and Priya Malik who all won the bronze medal.

India finished as the third-best nation in women’s freestyle wrestling with 143 points, behind Japan (205) and China (149).

Men’s Freestyle (Team Rank - 7th, Points - 99)

Although Aman Sehrawat bagged the gold medal for India in men’s 57kg freestyle, the event recorded India’s worst performance in terms of medals among the three disciplines in this edition. The other medalists in the men’s freestyle were Deepak Mirka in the men’s 79 kg and Anirudh Gulia in the men’s 125kg who collected the bronze. 

In the bronze medal match of the men’s 79kg, Deepak got past Shuhrat Bozorov of Tajikistan by 12-1. On the last day of the continental meet when the majority of the Indian wrestlers disappointed, Anirudh emerged as the best wrestler at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023. He did so by defeating Uzbekistan’s Sardorbek Kholmatov via technical superiority by 12-2 to finish India’s campaign with 14 medals.

India's medalists at Asian Wrestling Championships 2023

No.	Athlete	Category	Medal
1	Aman Sehrawat	men’s 57 kg freestyle	Gold
2	Antim Panghal	women’s 53 kg freestyle	Silver
3	Nisha Dahiya	women’s 68 kg freestyle	Silver
4	Rupin Gahlawat	men's 55 kg Greco-Roman	Silver
5	Deepak Mirka	men’s 79 kg freestyle	Bronze
6	Anirudh Gulia	men’s 125 kg freestyle	Bronze
7	Neeraj Chhikara	men's 63 kg Greco-Roman	Bronze
8	Sunil Kumar	men's 87 kg Greco-Roman	Bronze
9	Vikas Dalal	men's 72 kg Greco-Roman	Bronze
10	Anshu Malik	women’s 57 kg freestyle	Bronze
11	Sonam Malik	women’s 62 kg freestyle	Bronze
12	Manisha Bhanwala	women’s 65 kg freestyle	Bronze
13	Reetika Hooda	women’s 72 kg freestyle	Bronze
14	Priya Malik	women’s 76 kg freestyle	Bronze

Asian Wrestling Championships 2023: Wrestlers who impressed most

Aman Sehrawat

The 19-year-old Aman Sehrawat was India’s star wrestler at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023. His gold-medal triumph not only guided India to seventh place overall but also ensured India’s fourth consecutive gold medal in this weight category.

Before Aman, it was Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Ravi Kumar Dahiya who had won three successive golds from 2020 to 2022. However, Ravi had to withdraw his name from the trials owing to an injury which was an opportunity for Aman to represent India and impress everyone.

The U-23 World Champion lived up to the hype and went on to claim the gold medal in the men’s 57kg freestyle to give India its only gold in the continental meeting. To accomplish this feat, he defeated Almaz Smanbekov by 9-4 in the gold-medal match, Wanhao Zou by 7-4 in the semis, and Rikuto Arai in the quarters by 7-1.

Antim Panghal

Antim Panghal has been making waves since becoming the World U-20 champion. At the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023, she once again stunned everyone with her performance by reaching the finals of the continental meet. On her way to the finals, she overcame the challenges of Aktenge Keunimjaeva of Uzbekistan, Li Deng of China, and Singapore’s Alvina Lim.

Although she had to settle for the silver medal as she faced Akari Fujinami, the 2021 World Champion, Antim’s rise in the sport has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Rupin Gahlawat

Rupin Gahlawat gave India a great start by claiming his first international medal in the form of silver on the first day of the championship. In the men’s 55 kg Greco-Roman, the 19-year-old Rupin lost to the reigning U-23 World Champion Pouya Dadmarz and had to settle for a second-place finish. Earlier, Rupin had progressed to the final by winning all his games from the qualification rounds till the final.

Nisha Dahiya

Another Indian who put up a solid show in the continental meet was Nisha Dahiya. Nisha, who was a bronze medalist for India last year, was competing this time in the women’s 65kg. In the semi-final, she upset the Asian Games 2014 gold medalist and two-time Olympian Feng Zhou in the semis by 7-6 to advance to the final. However, Ami Ishi of Japan proved to be the better wrestler in the final and Nisha had to settle for the silver medal.

Asian Wrestling Championships 2023: Wrestlers who disappointed most

Deepak Punia

A lot was expected from the Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medalist Deepak Punia since the Indian side didn’t feature the likes of Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Ravi Kumar Dahiya. However, Deepak couldn’t live up to the expectations as he crashed out in the quarter-finals of the competition after losing to Bahrain’s Magomed Sharipov by 0-5 in the men’s 92kg.

This was a huge blow to the Indian contingent as he was considered a serious medal contender at the continental meet.

Sarita Mor

Another experienced campaigner who couldn’t deliver was Sarita Mor. A two-time champion, Sarita failed to reach the semi-final after losing her Round 2 and Round 3 matches against Yui Sakano of Japan and China’s Zhuomalaga. Deepak Punia and Sarita Mor, two of India’s biggest medal hopes, had to return home empty-handed.