Historic day for Indian women wrestling as Kajal, Neelam storm into Worlds gold bouts

Astana: Indian women's wrestling broke new ground at the World Championships on Tuesday, with debutants Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi storming into the gold medal bouts to ensure that two women's grapplers from the country will fight for the world title for the first time at the same edition of the premier event.

Neelam, 26, defeated Kazakhstan's Zeinep Bayanova 7-3 in the 50kg category to set up a title clash with Japanese great Yui Susaki. She became only the second Indian woman wrestler ever to make the title clash.

The 18-year-old Kajal soon became the third Indian to achieve the feat when she pulled off a stunning 10-7 comeback win over seasoned Kyrgyzstan wrestler Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the 76kg semifinals.


Kajal, who hails from Lath village in Haryana's Sonepat district, will face Ukraine's European champion Anastasiya Alpyeyeva in the final.

Until Tuesday, Anshu Malik, who won silver medal in 2021, was the only Indian woman to have reached a World Championships final, making the double breakthrough a landmark moment for the country.

Kajal's remarkable victory was a display of strength, tactical intelligence and an unyielding fighting spirit as she refused to surrender despite trailing 1-7 in the first period.

The two-time U20 world champion Kajal initially got on the scoreboard when Medet Kyzy stepped out of the mat, but the Kyrgyz soon took control, putting the Indian on the mat and coming close to securing a fall.

Kajal survived the pin attempt but found herself trailing 1-6.

The Indian camp challenged the two points awarded to Medet Kyzy for ''exposure'' move, but the challenge was unsuccessful, allowing the Kyrgyz to extend her lead to 7-1.

Rather than being overawed by her opponent's reputation and the mounting deficit, Kajal launched a spirited counter-attack.

Using her considerable strength, she threw Medet Kyzy to the mat from the side to earn two points before executing another takedown to reduce the deficit to 5-7.

With the momentum beginning to shift towards Kajal, Indian coach Virender Dahiya urged her to keep pushing.

"You have a lot of time, go for it, just do not concede any more points," Dahiya screamed from the corner.

Kajal responded with a double-leg attack, again initiated from the side, to take 8-7 lead, completing a stunning turnaround.

As the bout approached its conclusion, Medet Kyzy attempted to push the Indian out of bounds.

Kajal, however, cleverly slipped behind her opponent and executed another takedown to seal a memorable 10-7 victory.

Overcome with emotion, Kajal fell face down on the mat, covered her face with her hands and began crying.

Medet Kyzy, meanwhile, lay flat on her back in disbelief after losing to the relatively inexperienced Indian.

Dahiya erupted in celebration, jumping into the air before punching the mat as Kajal''s extraordinary comeback secured her a place in the gold medal bout.

Neelam''s 7-3 win over Bayanova guaranteed her a shot at gold against Susaki, one of the most accomplished wrestlers.

Both Kajal, Neelam had failed at Asian Games trials

Interestingly, both Neelam and Kajal could not secure places in Indian squad for the Asian Games after losing the final trial bouts to Deepanshi and Priya Malik respectively.

Neelam, who hails from Mathura and trains at Najafgarh Stadium under India women's chief coach Virender Dahiya and Parvesh Rathi, comes from a family of wrestlers. Both her uncles, sister and grandfather were involved in wrestling.

"The years of hard work has finally paid off," Dahiya told PTI.

"I always tell me wrestlers that if you fight for full six minutes with intensity, your endurance will get you points. This is what happened. After a poor Asian Games show, this result has made us proud of our wrestlers," he added.

Parvesh Rathi, who has played a part in Neelam's training along with Dahiya and Shweta Punia at Najafgarh centre, said the addition of variations to the attack has yielded good results.

"There are various attacks you can launch from one position. We worked on this aspect in Neelam''s game. She was already a ''ready wrestler'' when she came to us and we just needed to polish her talent," Rathi told PTI.

Asked about the final against Japanese legend and four-time world champion Susaki, he said, "We all know what Susaki does. But this is not going to be a on-sided bout I am sure. There will be a contest."

In the morning session, Kajal produced a convincing 9-2 victory over Mongolia''s Davaanasan Enkh Amar after recording a 'win by fall' over Lithuania''s Kamile Griskiene Gaucaite.

Neelam blanked Belarus' Natallia Varakina 6-0 in her pre-quarterfinal bout and advanced to the last four after top seed Russian Elizaveta Smirnova withdrew from the quarterfinals due to an injury.

Neelam stood out with her fast-paced attacks and strong defence when Varakina mounted a challenge.

Rajnita stays alive in bronze medal race

Rajnita pulled off a notable upset in the women's 65kg category, stunning 2024 World silver medallist Kateryna Zelenykh 8-6 in a qualification bout. She later lost her pre-quarterfinal bout by technical superiority to Moldova''s Irina Ringaci.

She is still alive in the medal race. In her repechage bout, she will face Japan''s Nana Ikehata.

Neha Sharma advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women''s 57kg category with a hard-fought 4-2 win over Algeria''s Achouak Djamila Tekouk but went down 1-4 to Belarus'' Iryna Kurachkna in the next round and was eliminated.

India''s Greco-Roman wrestlers drew a blank with only Lalit (55kg) making the medal round while the others cut a sorry figure.