India's next Gold Medal: Antim Panghal gunning for Glory in Paris

The year 2024 will witness another glorious chapter of the greatest showpiece event in the world of sports. Paris Olympics 2024 would be a congregation of champions where historic scenes will become eternal. This will be a festival where every nation will present its contention for the top spot celebration, and from India, many prominent Iron men and women would head to Pantruche to propel among the paladins. 

As the games are approaching, republicworld.com has taken the onus to spread the word about India's potential podium finishers. To start of the series, the first focal point is the promising young wrestler, Antim Panghal.

Who is Antim Panghal?

Born on August 31, 2004, Antim Panghal is a wrestler, who hails from the Bhagana village of Hisar, Haryana. She is the second youngest in her family and has four siblings (3 elder sisters and a younger brother). Antim picked up an interest in Wrestling at the tender age of 18. Her sister Sarita proved to be the catalyst in creating destiny, as she was the one who took her to watch a wrestling programme at the Mahavir Stadium in Hisar. While Antim's father Ram Niwas was initially sceptical of her daughter's chosen path, eventually he came around and then he and wife Krishna Kumari (Antim's mother) made all the sacrifices to push Antim to the professional stage.

Antim Panghal's wrestling career

With the blessing of parents and unconditional support from siblings, Antim Panghal found success quite early in her career. She became the U-15 national champion of the 49kg category in Patna in 2008. Following that in the same year, she made her name at the international level as well; she brought home a bronze medal in the U-15 Asian Wrestling Championship in Japan. It was only the first step in the long illustrious journey. In 2020, she became the Junior Asian Champion and afterwards won a silver in the U-23 championships. 

In 2022, she entered the realm of the 53 kg category, which was domestically ruled by none other than Vinesh Phogat. Antim fought Phogat with all her might in 2022 and almost denied her the place at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. The loss against Phogat did not down Panghal's spirits as she quickly bounced back to win 53kg division at the 2022 Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series. This was her first Gold at the senior level.

A few months later, she went on to script history by becoming the first Indian to capture the Gold Medal at the U-20 World Wrestling Championships 2022. A year later she defended her title and better her accolade as the only two-time junior champion from India.

She won a Bronze medal in her maiden stint at the World Championship in Belgrade and courtesy of this finish she secured a berth at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

In Asian Games 2023, She was unsure of a spot as the federation granted Vinesh Phogat a direct entry from the 53 kg catalogue. However, a last-minute injury to Vinesh brought Antim Panghal into the picture. She did not disappoint and won a Bronze medal in the continental tournament.   

Antim Panghal’s medals and achievements

• Under-20 World Wrestling Championships - Gold (2022, 2023)
• World Championships - Bronze (2023)
• Asian Championships - Bronze (2023)
• Asian Games - Bronze (2023)
• First Indian woman to become U-20 world champion in wrestling
• UWW Rising Star of the Year 2023

Through her consistent performance on the international stage, Antim Panghal obtained the women’s Rising Star of the Year 2023 tag from United World Wrestling (UWW). With all that she has achieved, she has emerged as one of India's premier medal hopes and could go all the way to become the reason why the Tricolor would soar to the highest in August 2024.