Antim Panghal

Some Lesser Known Facts About Antim Panghal

• Antim Panghal is an Indian wrestler who became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the U-20 wrestling world championship in 2022.

• In 2018, Antim Panghal won the 49kg U-15 national wrestling championship held in Patna. She then went on to win a bronze medal in the same year at the Asian Wrestling Championship in the U-15 category held in Japan.

• Later that year, she competed in the Asian Wrestling Championship, which was held in Japan, and bagged a bronze medal in the U-15 category.

• In 2020, Antim won a gold medal at the 2020 Junior Asian Championship and a silver medal at the U-23 Asian Championship by defeating opponents who were much older than she was.

• She won a bronze medal in the 53 kg class at the 2021 World Cadets Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

• She won her first gold medal in the senior category in July 2022 when she defeated Dominique Parrish of the United States at the Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series in the women’s 53kg event held in Tunis, Tunisia.

• In August 2022, she won a gold medal at the U-20 World Wrestling Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, and created history by becoming the first Indian to win the title.
  

  

  Later that year, she won a gold medal in the 53 kg event at the Asian U20 Championship held in Manama, Bahrain.

• She won a gold medal at the 45th World Junior Wrestling Championships held in Amman, Jordan. Later, at the Asian U23 Championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, she finished second in the 53 kg event.

• In April 2023, she won a silver medal at the 19th Asian Wrestling Championships, which was held in Astana, Kazakhstan.

• In September 2023, she made her debut at the Asian Games, where she won a bronze medal at the 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China.

• In September 2023, she competed for the first time in the United World Wrestling (UWW) Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, where she defeated two-time European champion Jonna Malmgren of Sweden to win a bronze medal. This win at the World Wrestling Championships helped her secure a quota for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

  

• Antim is the last girl born into the Panghal family, and gets her name from the English word “last” or “final.”

• When Antim was just ten years old, her sister Sarita Panghal took her to see a wrestling match at the Mahavir Stadium in Hisar, Haryana, and that’s when she became interested in wrestling.

• At first, Antim’s father, Ram Niwas, was hesitant about his daughter going into professional wrestling, but he finally agreed when Antim’s coach Roshni Devi persuaded him.

• During the first few months of her training, Antim would travel 20 km every day to the Mahavir Stadium in Hisar with her father, Ram Niwas, and sister Sarita. Later, to avoid the commute, her father made arrangements for her to move to Hisar.

• Her family eventually relocated to Hisar. Her father, in an interview, mentioned that he built a house with a cattle shed especially for Antim’s diet needs. He said,
  

  The buffaloes were non-negotiable. If my daughter had to wrestle, she had to get the best diet and I didn’t trust the milk you get in cities.”

• In September 2023, due to the suspension of WFI by United World Wrestling (UWW), Antim participated in the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, as a neutral athlete rather than under the Indian Flag. Later, in an interview, Antim expressed her disappointment about not being able to play under the Indian Flag and said,
  

  I won a bronze at the World Championship, but I was heartbroken because I could not even wear the India jersey. I had to wear the costume given by UWW. It hurt a lot that I could not represent India.” ^[2]News 18

• Despite winning the 2023 Asian Games selection trials, she was not chosen to compete for India because Vinesh Phogat was given direct entry for the women’s 53kg category at the continental meet by the federation; however, Vinesh suffered an injury at the last minute that gave Antim Panghal, who was kept as Vinesh’s backup, the opportunity to represent India at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, where Antim won a bronze medal.

• In December 2023, United World Wrestling (UWW), the international organisation that oversees amateur wrestling, named Antim Panghal the women’s Rising Star of the Year 2023.