Indian wrestling continued its strong run at the U-20 World Championships in Bratislava as Kajal Dhochak defended her title with a dominant 7-0 win in the 76kg final. Tanu Sharma, Mansi Lather and Savita also impressed securing silver medals for India.
Indian wrestling continued its impressive run on the global stage as 18-year-old Kajal Dhochak secured back-to-back Under-20 World Championship titles, headlining a strong showing for the country at the ongoing tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia. Alongside her triumph, Tanu Sharma and Savita earned silver medals, further demonstrating India's exceptional performance in youth wrestling categories.
Competing in the 76kg weight class this year, a step up from the 72kg division she won last season. Kajal delivered a commanding performance in the final, defeating China's Jingru Sun by a lopsided 7-0 scoreline. The victory made her the first Indian wrestler in recent memory to retain a U-20 World title across two different weight categories.
Kajal's rise has not been confined to junior competition. She has already begun making waves at the senior international level, having claimed gold at the Ranking Series event in Mongolia in June and followed it up with another gold medal at the Budapest ranking event in July. She also topped the podium at the U-20 Asian Championship held in Pattaya earlier this year, signalling that her junior success is translating smoothly into senior-level dominance.
Read more about the championship here.
While Kajal's win was emphatic, her compatriots faced tougher battles for their medals. Tanu Sharma, competing in the 72kg category, pushed Japan's Chisato Yoshida to the limit in the gold medal bout before narrowly losing 3-5, a result that reflects the increasingly competitive standard among Asian wrestlers at the junior level.
In the 62kg division, Savita ran into a similarly formidable opponent in Japan's Sakura Onishi, ultimately succumbing to a technical superiority decision, 2-12. Further, in the 68kg category, Mansi Lather fought a tightly contested gold medal match against China’s Chenling Song. Mansi narrowly lost the defensive bout 1-2, earning a well-deserved silver medal for India.
Read more about the results here.
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