Belgrade: Young Indian wrestler Antim Panghal's superb campaign at the World Championships culminated with a bronze medal, a performance that also earned the country a 53kg quota for the Paris Olympics.
The 19-year-old became only the sixth Indian woman to win a medal at the Worlds with her win over Sweden's Emma Jonna Denise Malmgren, the two-time European champion.
Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018), Vinesh Phogat (2019) and Anshu Malik (silver) have won medals at the World Championships for India before.
The high-scoring bout ended with a technical superiority win for Antim, who became the first Indian wrestler -- male or female -- to lock a quota for the next year's Games.
Antim raced to a 5-0 lead after beginning with a quick push-out point. Malmgren fought with a take-down move and had the Indian in her grip but somehow the Indian wriggled out.
A successful double-leg attack from the Swede reduced the deficit further and another two-pointer meant that Malmgren had grabbed a slender 6-5 lead with six straight points.
Just before the end of the first period, Antim earned a point on counter-attack to make it 6-6.
The second period belonged to Antim as the two-time U20 champion pulled off move after move to consolidate her lead. The Swede resisted hard but the powerful Antim employed leg-lace to quickly widen the gap and eventually won the bout by technical superiority.
With Antim's bronze medal win, Indian women's campaign ended in the championships. This is the only medal India have won so far.
The Indians are competing under the UWW flag since national federation WFI is suspended for not conducting elections on time.
