Antim Panghal is one of the emerging wrestlers from India, who won a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships 2023 in Belgrade in the 53kg freestyle weight category. The 19-year-old made it to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the back of splendid performances in various competitions in the past year, getting the fourth seed in her weight category, which is introduced for the first time in the multi-sporting games.
The world of wrestling took notice of Antim Panghal during the summer of 2022, when she won a gold medal at the Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series in Tunis. A couple of months later, she won the gold medal at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Sofia before repeating the same feat next year in Amman.
At the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 in Astana, Antim Panghal settled for a silver medal after Akari Fujinami of Japan got the better of her by technical superiority. During the World Wrestling Championships 2023, she lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the semi-final, but a win over Jonna Malmgren of Sweden in the third place playoff ensured her the first medal in the prestigious tournament.
In her first appearance at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, Antim Panghal suffered a fall at the hands of Akari Fujinami of Japan, who has become an arch nemesis for her. But, she recovered well in the third place playoff, defeating Bat-Ochiryn Bolortuyaa of Mongolia to win her first medal at the Asiad.
For her incredible achievements in such a young wrestling career, Antim Panghal received the Women’s Rising Star of the Year trophy at the UWW Awards 2023.
In the year 2024, Antim Panghal won a silver medal at the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial Tournament in Budapest after losing in the final to Jonna Malmgren of Sweden earlier in the summer. With her consistency in the sport in recent times, she will be fancying her chances of winning a medal for India at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games.