Manisha Bhanwala defeated home favourite Altyn Shagayeva 10-0 to enter the women's 59kg World Championships final. She has become the third Indian female wrestler to reach the final after Kajal and Neelam.Manisha Bhanwala (Courtesy: manisha_bhanwala17) Manisha Bhanwala is one win away from creating history for Indian wrestling.
The 29-year-old stormed into the women's 59kg final at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday, pinning home favourite Altyn Shagayeva 10-0 in the semi-final.Manisha will face Abigail Nette of the United States in Friday's final, with a chance to become India's first-ever women's world champion. Her qualification also made her the third Indian woman to reach a final at this edition of the championships, following Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi.
She is the fourth Indian woman wrestler to reach a World Championships final overall.Both Kajal, 18, and Neelam, 26, fell short in their respective gold-medal bouts on Wednesday, settling for silver. Kajal lost to Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva in the 76kg final, while Neelam was beaten by Japan’s Yui Susaki in the 50kg title clash.
Their silver medals marked a historic milestone for India, with the country having two women competing in World Championships finals at the same edition for the first time.Manisha, 29, was dominant throughout the day, producing a series of assured performances to book her place in the gold-medal bout. In the quarter-finals, Manisha defeated Mongolia's Bolortuya Khurelkhuu 6-0 in a controlled display.
She had earlier beaten Canada's Laurence Beauregard 6-2 in the pre-quarter-finals to set up the contest against Shagayeva.The semi-final, however, was her most emphatic performance of the day. Competing in front of a home crowd, Shagayeva was unable to stop the Indian, who secured victory by fall to seal her place in the final.MANISHA'S RISE For Manisha, the opportunity comes after a season in which she has also had to navigate a change in weight category.
She competed in the women's 57kg event at the 2026 Asian Games, making her debut at the continental showpiece. Her campaign ended in the quarter-finals against Japan's Akari Fujinami, the Paris Olympics gold medallist, and she did not get a repechage opportunity.
Last year, she won gold in the women's 62 kg category in the Asian Championships in Amman.Manisha's journey in wrestling began in 2013, when her father sent her to a training camp because she was unfit and needed to improve her fitness. What started as a way to get fitter gradually turned into a serious pursuit as she discovered her potential in the sport.The early years were marked by pressure and self-doubt, but she has said she became mentally stronger from 2021 onwards, learning to persevere through injuries and setbacks.Support from the Inspire Institute of Sport, where she has trained for a considerable part of her career, has been an important part of her development.
She has also credited India's training camps and Japanese coach Kosei Akaishi for helping her improve technically and adapt to the demands of competing in different weight categories.- Ends