Neelam Sirohi: UP owns a stubborn wrestler who has taken on the best in the world
Neelam Sirohi grew up in a village where the wrestling akharas were slowly disappearing. In Astana, she found herself facing one of the greatest wrestlers of her generation.
The Indian made it to the women’s 50kg final at the World Wrestling Championships, with Japan’s Yui Susaki standing between her and the gold. Susaki, a four-time world champion, has dominated the mat for years, rarely giving her opponents a chance. However, Neelam refused to make it easy for her.
In the first two minutes, neither wrestler could find a breakthrough. Neelam, 26, resolutely fought back and denied Susaki the opening. But just as the first period drew to a close, the Japanese wrestler attacked her left leg, securing a takedown and pinning the Indian. Susaki won her fifth world title, leaving Neelam with the silver.
Neelam won a silver medal at the World Championships. (Photo: WFI)
On the same day, there was more disappointment for India as Kajal Dhochak lost the women’s 76kg final as well. Still, their runs to the gold medal matches marked a first in Indian women’s wrestling, with two Indian women reaching the final at the same senior World Championship. Before Astana, Anshu Malik was the only Indian woman to reach the final of the Senior World Championship.
For Neelam, the journey to this final began much further away, in a village near Mathura, on a bicycle.
He hails from Phenchari in western Uttar Pradesh, where the traditional wrestling akharas have gradually faded away. Wrestling, however, was already part of her family’s story. Her grandfather and maternal uncle were wrestlers, says her coach Parvesh Rathi, while her sister Chanchal also took up the sport. Her father was initially reluctant to let Neelam follow the same path, but his uncle eventually convinced him to give her a chance.
Once she started training, the next challenge became getting into the academy in Dwarka. Neelam’s solution was simple. She cycled 10 kilometers each way to exercise.
“When she started, she used to cycle 10 kilometers every day,” Rathi recalled.
That determination remained in her. Rathi describes Neelam as someone who knows what she wants and is ready to do anything to get there.
“Absolutely, absolutely. She’s very stubborn. What she wants, she wants, no matter what she has to do to get it. She’s wanted something since childhood.”
Her career was built on that persistence, even if progress wasn’t always straightforward.
THE ONLY ONE IS READY! Neelam Sirohi takes on Japan’s Yui Susaki in the women’s 50kg final at the 2026 World Senior Championships. One match. One dream. A chance to make history. Let’s go see Neelam! – @wrestling #WFI #TeamIndia #WrestleAstana Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) (@wfi_wrestling) October 28, 2026
Neelam won bronze in the under-43 kg category at the 2017 Cadet World Championships before finishing ninth at the 2019 Junior World Championships. She claimed silver at the 2022 Dana Kolova World Championships and Asian Under-23 Championship, but finished 13th in her first appearance at the Senior World Championships.
The following year, she bounced back to win gold at the Asian Under-23 Championship. She also finished ninth at the senior WC and fifth at the U23 WC. Last year she collected three bronze medals on the scoring series circuit, this season she added silver in Zagreb and bronze in Ulaanbaatar.
The results showed that he was making steady progress. But just when he seemed to be on his way to the next level, came another failure at the Asian Games trials.
DEFEAT THAT TESTS HER
Neelam looked good to book her place in the Asian Games after taking a 6-0 lead against Deepanshi. But she let the advantage slip and ended up losing the match, losing her hard-earned opportunity.
For India women’s head coach Virender Dahiya, the defeat was particularly hard to bear.
“We felt we just missed out on a gold medal in that weight class.
Rathi also tried to make sense of the result. He felt Neelam was the stronger wrestler in their previous encounters, often defeating Deepanshi comfortably by two or three points. Deepanshi went on to win bronze at the Asian Games, making the test defeat even tougher for Neelam and her camp. Neelam with her coach Parvesh Rathi who never lost faith in the wrestler. (Photo: PTI)
Rathi believed that luck played a role, but the immediate task was to help Neelam move on. She needed to put the disappointment behind her, rebuild her confidence and get back to the level that brought her so close to the top.
There was another controversial moment before the World Cup, this time during the trials against Parveen Malik. Neelam’s camp felt that the referee had not awarded her points, prompting the Indian Wrestling Federation to send the video to United World Wrestling for review. The decision went in Neelam’s favor, with the review indicating that she was denied two points that would have pushed the score to 10-0 and secured the victory by technical dominance.
Neelam had a lot to prove before she arrived in Astana. She started her campaign with a 6-0 win over Natallia Varakina. The withdrawal of top seed Elizaveta Smirnova of Russia then sent her into the semi-finals, where she defeated Zeynep Bayanova 7-3 to book her place in the final.
Waiting for her was Susaki, a wrestler with an impressive record. The Japanese star has won a world title at 48kg and another three at 50kg, losing only once at international level. Few opponents could have presented a tougher challenge on the biggest stage.
Neelam held on for nearly three minutes before Susaki found the opening that changed the match. A takedown and pin by the Japanese wrestler ended Neelam’s gold hopes, but the Indian at least gave one of the sport’s most dominant wrestlers a push before the decisive move.
For Rathi, there was pride in seeing his wrestler reach the final, even though he felt she could have done more.
He believed that the opportunity and the weight of Susaki’s reputation may have swayed Neelam, while insisting that the gulf between them was not as great as the result suggested. Reaching the finals showed Neelam that she belongs at this level. However, defeating a wrestler like Susaki would require her to take the next step.
FROM SILVER TO THE NEXT CHALLENGE
The disappointment of losing the World Cup final will not go away overnight. But Neelam has little time to dwell on that, with the Los Angeles Olympics still two years away and preparations for the next big challenge already underway.
Rathi believes the foundations are in place. Neelam trains twice a day and has received support from Reliance, Railways and Federation camps. After working with her for about two years, he saw firsthand how much effort she put into improving her game.
“Everything is already ready,” he said, reflecting on the preparations ahead.
Our focus now is to turn the Astana experience into something he can build on. Neelam knows what it takes to make it to the World Cup final. The next challenge is finding a way to win one.
She once cycled 10 kilometers each way just to get to match practice. A few years later, she made it to the finals of the World Championship, standing on the mat with one of the best female wrestlers in the world.
Silver wasn’t the goal she was hoping for, but it was another milestone on a journey that began far from the spotlight. With the Olympics on the horizon, Neelam has another goal to chase and a clearer idea of what she needs to do to go one step further.
– The end