Antim Panghal, Harshita win gold in Budapest Ranking Series
Antim Panghal (53kg) and Harshita (72kg) landed gold medals in the Budapest Ranking Series wrestling event.
World championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal defeated Natalia Malysheva 7-4 in the final.
Earlier, Antim got past Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgil 10-0 to avenge her Paris Olympics loss before seeing off USA’s Felicity Taylor 10-0 in the semifinals.
Harshita overcame reigning Asian champion and Worlds silver medallist Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan 10-0 on the way to winning all four of her round-robin matches and emerge as the champion.
The 19-year-old, who secured gold in the Ulaanbaatar Ranking Series and Asian under-20 championships recently, also beat France’s Pauline Lecarpentier (who was disqualified for pushing the Indian after being pinned) and Ksenila Burakova ‘by fall’ and got a walkover against Kristina Bratchikova.
Promising teenager Neha Sangwan had to settle for silver after she was pinned by former Worlds and Olympic champion Helen Maroulis of the USA in the 57kg summit clash. Neelam bagged a bronze in the 50kg category.
On Friday, Asian under-23 champion Sujeet Kalkal toppled some established names on his way to secure the 65kg freestyle gold medal.