Wrestling Worlds: Manisha stuns home favorite, one win away from historic gold

Manisha Bhanwala is one win away from making Indian wrestling history. The 29-year-old stormed into the women’s 59kg final at the world championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday, beating home favorite Altyn Shagayeva 10-0 in the semi-finals.

Manisha will face Abigail Nette of the United States in the final on Friday and will have a chance to become India’s first ever women’s world champion. Her qualification also made her the third Indian woman to reach the finals at this year’s championship Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi. She is the fourth Indian female wrestler overall to reach the World Championship finals.

Both Kajal, 18, a Neelam, 26, on Wednesday, they fell behind in their gold medal fights and settled for silver. Kajal lost to Ukraine’s Anastasia Alpyeyeva in the 76kg final, while Neelam was beaten by Japan’s Yui Susaki in the 50kg title bout. Their silver medals marked a historic milestone for India, with the country competing in the World Cup finals for the first time in the same edition.

Manisha, 29, was dominant throughout the day and produced a series of confident performances to book her place in the gold medal match.

In the quarterfinals, Manisha defeated Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu 6-0 in a controlled display. Earlier, she beat Canada’s Laurence Beauregard 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals to set up a match against Shagaeva.

However, the semi-final was her most emphatic performance of the day. In the race in front of the home audience, Shagajeva was unable to stop the Indian, who secured victory by fall and sealed her progress to the final.

MANISHA ENTRANCE

Manisha’s opportunity comes after a season in which she also had to undergo a weight class change. She competed in the women’s 57 kg event at the 2026 Asian Games and made her continental show debut. Her campaign ended in the quarter-finals against Japan’s Akari Fujinami, the gold medalist from the Paris Olympics, and she was denied a chance to rematch. Last year, she won gold in the women’s 62kg category at the Asian Championships in Amman.

Manisha’s journey in wrestling started in 2013 when her father sent her to a training camp as she was unfit and needed to improve her fitness. What started as a way to get in shape gradually turned into a serious endeavor as she discovered her potential in the sport.

The early years were marked by pressure and self-doubt, but she said she has become mentally stronger since 2021 and learned to persevere through injuries and setbacks.

An important part of her development was the support from the Inspire Institute of Sport, where she trained for a significant part of her career. She also credited the Indian training camps and Japanese coach Kosei Akaishi for helping her improve technically and adapt to the demands of competing in different weight categories.

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