Manisha Bhanwala Becomes India's First Woman World Wrestling Champion After a 0-6 Comeback

What happened

For about thirty seconds at the start of the final, it looked as if India's long wait would go on. Abigail Nette of the United States, the Pan-American champion, caught Manisha Bhanwala's left leg, held on while Manisha hopped in defence, and finally threw her at the edge of the mat for four points, the Hindustan Times reported. India challenged the call and lost, which added a point. A caution then took Nette's lead to 6-0.

Manisha scored a step-out point before the break. In the second period, according to United World Wrestling, she earned a takedown that the American corner challenged unsuccessfully, then turned Nette with a gut-wrench for two more points to level at 6-6. With Nette ahead on criteria, Manisha produced a final takedown under pressure to lead 8-6 and held on until the whistle.

The win made her the first Indian woman to win a World Wrestling Championships gold and only the second Indian world champion in the sport after Sushil Kumar. "I've been waiting for a long time for this moment. Since 2022, I've been writing that I would be world champion," she told UWW.

The gut-wrench, she added, is her favourite move: "When I got that move, I felt I was going to get to 10 points just like that or even pin her."

Why people are searching

• A first for India. Indian women had reached senior World Championships finals before, but none had won one. The Indian Express noted that this gold came at the third attempt in three days in Astana.
• The comeback. Recovering from 0-6 in a world final is rare, and short clips of the last takedown circulated widely overnight.
• A bounce-back story. The Hindu pointed out that Manisha had a disappointing outing at 57 kg at the recent Asian Games, where she lost to Japan's Akari Fujinami, before switching focus to the World Championships.

A best-ever team result

Manisha's gold capped a record week for India's women. Eighteen-year-old Kajal Dhochak won silver at 76 kg, Neelam Sirohi took silver at 50 kg and Tanu Sharma won bronze at 72 kg. Ian Butler, the team's high-performance director, told The Indian Express he would rate the campaign "eight out of ten", saying there is still room to improve.

What comes next

The championships run until 1 November. Manisha's title came in a non-Olympic weight class, so the bigger question for Indian wrestling is how this group of athletes translates the momentum into Olympic categories. No official decision on her future weight class, or on any award, has been announced so far.