U-20 Wrestling World Championships 2023: Priya Malik wins gold, only second Indian to become junior world champion

Published at :August 19, 2023 at 8:30 AM

Modified at :January 13, 2024 at 5:58 PM

She is also the U-17 champion have won the title in both 2021 and 2022.

Priya Malik became only the second woman wrestler from India to be crowned U-20 world champion after winning the gold medal at the 2023 U-20 Wrestling World Championships in Jordan on Thursday. Hailing from Haryana, Priya beat Laura Celine Kuehn (Germany) by 5-0 in the women’s 76kg final.

Malik absolutely dominated the U-20 Wrestling World championships bout with the German failing to score even a single point. During the final bout, Priya suffered an agonizing cut above her left eye, and the match was stopped twice due to the bleeding.

Priya Malik is a U-20 World Champion!! 🇮🇳🇮🇳👑She defeats Germany's Lauren Celive Kuehn 5-0 to become only the second U-20 Wrestling World Champion from India. 🤼‍♀️#Wrestling #WrestlingAmman pic.twitter.com/H9Fce5DnPg
— Khel Now (@KhelNow) August 17, 2023

Priya was unscathed by the injury and made relentless leg attacks on the German. The latter failed to stand her ground and eventually gave away the bout. Following her victory, Priya Malik was quoted as saying by United World Wrestling (UWW) on its website: “I was much better prepared for this final than last year, I worked on my power and even defense so I can take this world champion belt home.”

She came to the spotlight after winning the gold medal in the U-17 Wrestling World Championships in Hungary in July 2021. Priya has now won both the U-17 and U-20 world titles in her short but promising career.

In her short career, she already is the Queen of Bling with medals at global events and making heads turn with her relentless attacking, strategic defending, and above all true determination and endless grit to make India proud in the global wrestling events.

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The promising feature of Indian wrestling

The emergence of Indian wrestlers in the recent past has been a huge boost to India’s medal-winning prospects for world championships and Olympic-level events. The Phogats and the Maliks coupled with a few other wrestlers have their fair share of inspiring the youth and particularly the women of India in taking up mainstream wrestling.

India’s history is rich in wrestling prowess known as Khusti (wrestling) and Akhada (ring of hard mud) which churns out hard fighters. One should not be surprised when the likes of Priya Malik and other Indian wrestlers dominate the world of wrestling.

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