From narrow losses to close calls: Indian Wrestlers' gritty campaign at World C'ships

India extended its streak of consecutive medals at the World Wrestling Championships thanks to Antim Panghal's bronze medal in the women's freestyle 53 kg category.

However, once again, the contingent failed to secure multiple medals, and Antim's bronze proved to be the nation's only achievement at the 2025 edition.

The last-minute disqualification of Paris Medalist Aman Sehrawat, due to his weight-cut issue, further hampered India's medal chances as he was among the few favorites in his category.

There were also a few close misses where the wrestlers missed out on the podium after losing their close matches in repechage and bronze medal bouts.

In the broader picture, it can be said that despite their triumphs in age-group categories, Indian wrestlers still lag a bit in the senior circuit, unable to replicate their junior success consistently.

Here are a few key pointers on the factors that halted the campaign at just one medal.

Lack of composure in the dying moments

The youthful Indian team anticipated a challenging World Wrestling Championships, but their campaign was made even tougher by several last-minute losses.

There were multiple occasions where the athletes were leading at one point, but then they could not sustain the pressure in the final seconds and lost the bout.

For example, Ankush (50 Kg) was holding a one-point lead in the final minute of her opening round bout against Varakina of Belarus, but then, when it was just 6 seconds on the clock, she gave her opponent a headlock position, which resulted in a 2-point turn.

There were a few more such bouts, which could have swung in India's favor, potentially altering the outcomes and boosting the medal tally.

Passive start to the bout

One more common pattern that was visible in India's game was the passive start to the bouts and conceding early points, which they failed to recover.

This is the same way Sujeet lost his repchage match to the USA's Woods despite looking the better wrestler in the second half.

One common norm that floats in the wrestling circuit is that Indian wrestlers are good on the defensive side, but when it comes to counterattack, they sometimes falter.

For these issues, Indian wrestlers need to improve in their groundwork and leg attacks, which is the most common way of winning multiple points in freestyle wrestling.

The young generation needs time

Over the past three to four years, Indian wrestlers, particularly in the women's categories, have achieved remarkable success in age-group competitions, with 8 U17 World Champions and 6 U20 World Champions crowned in the last three years.

A few of these Wrestlers, Antim Panghal, Tapsya, and Priya Malik, have also competed at this competition, with Antim winning a medal and Priya falling short in a bronze medal match.

A common pattern that was visible in most of the bouts was that the strength factor, as Indian wrestlers were looking smaller in size, wasn't able to find good gut wrenches.

Most of the wrestlers were trying for the laces, which is not an easy technique to execute against the top wrestlers in the world. With age on their side, these wrestlers need to work on their strength.

Despite all that, the Indian wrestlers have shown immense growth over the years, and if they maintain their consistency and work on strength building, India can still produce world beaters in the coming years.