World Wrestling Championships 2026: Manisha Bhanwala Enters Final, Tanu Sharma Wins Bronze As Sujeet Kalkal Exits

Manisha Bhanwala moved into the women’s 59kg final at the World Wrestling Championships on Thursday, keeping India’s hopes of winning an elusive world title alive.

Tanu Sharma added to the country’s medal tally with bronze in the 72kg category, while Sujeet Kalkal suffered a heartbreaking quarterfinal exit in men’s freestyle.

Manisha dominated Kazakhstan’s Altyn Shagayeva in the semifinal, building a 10-0 lead before pinning her opponent to seal her place in Friday’s gold medal bout against USA’s Abigail Elizabeth Nette.

The Indian had earlier beaten Canada’s Laurence Beauregard by fall before registering a 6-0 quarterfinal victory over Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu.

Competing in the non-Olympic 59kg category, Manisha bounced back from the disappointment of the Asian Games, where she returned without a medal despite targeting gold.

Tanu, meanwhile, defeated USA’s Precious Rosanna Bell 9-5 in the women’s 72kg bronze medal bout. Her podium finish, along with silver medals won by Neelam Sirohi (50kg) and Kajal Dhochak (76kg), took India’s assured medal count to four.

The country’s previous best at the tournament was two bronze medals, won by Geeta and Babita Phogat in 2012.

Sujeet Kalkal’s Winning Streak Ends

Sujeet’s campaign ended with a 3-3 criteria defeat to Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev in the men’s 65kg quarterfinal.

The result snapped his 24-match unbeaten streak, which had included seven titles over the past year, among them the U23 World Championships, Asian Championships and Asian Games.

Sujeet had taken a 3-1 lead before a successful challenge by Kudiev’s corner overturned a late scoring decision. With the bout level at 3-3, the Tajik wrestler advanced on criteria after scoring the final point.

The defeat was particularly painful as Sujeet had beaten Kudiev in the Asian Games final after recovering from a 2-9 deficit.

Elsewhere, Ahilya Shinde exited the women’s 55kg competition after losing 9-6 to Turkiye’s Tuba Demir, having opened with an 8-1 win over Cuba’s Yaynelis Sanz Verdecia.

Vicky Hooda lost 12-2 by technical superiority to Japan’s Arash Yoshida in the men’s 97kg quarterfinal but remains in contention through repechage after his opponent reached the final.

Srishti was eliminated from the women’s 68kg category after losing her repechage bout to USA’s Kennedy Blades.