Paris chapter over, focused on upcoming events: Worlds medallist Antim Panghal

NEW DELHI: Antim Panghal will return from the World wrestling championships in Zagreb with mixed feelings. Though she secured her second consecutive bronze medal at the Worlds, the 21-year-old had hoped for gold.Antim still found some solace in the Croatian capital following her disappointing exit in the women’s 53kg category at the Paris Olympics last year. In addition to her 0-10 loss against Türkiye’s Yetgil Zeynep, she was deported from France for permitting her sister Nisha to enter the Athletes’ Village using her accreditation card.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!For a year, Antim went through a range of emotions. She suffered a mental breakdown and contemplated quitting the sport. The two-time junior world champion confined herself to her home in Bhagana village in Haryana’s Hisar district and stopped her social interactions. She also stopped checking her social media accounts amidst negative comments regarding her Paris performance. After receiving encouragement from her parents and friends, Antim resumed her training but sustained an injury, which sidelined her once more.Antim decided to overcome these setbacks and start anew. She joined training at the Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) centre in Hisar under head coach Siyanand Dahiya. She regained her form, winning bronze at the Asian Championships earlier this year and winning gold at the Ulaanbaatar meet and the Polyák Imre & Varga János memorial. During the Worlds selection trials, she did not concede a single point on her path to final qualification.“It was a tough period,” Antim told TOI from Zagreb before boarding her flight home. “I wasn’t quite myself. That one bout (in Paris) changed everything for me. There were a lot of negative comments. But I have left the past behind. That chapter is over for me. I want to look ahead and win medals for my country.”Antim was touted as India’s strongest medal contender in her weight category ahead of the Paris Games. The preparations were ideal – she had won the 53kg gold at the U-20 World Championships in 2023 and the same year won bronze at the senior Worlds in Belgrade.This time, in Zagreb, Antim was well-prepared, and a gold medal certainly looked in her reach. However, she lost her semifinal bout in a close contest. She later defeated Sweden’s Emma Jonna Denise Malmgren 9-1 in the bronze playoff.Reflecting on her match against Yepez in the semis, Antim stated, “It was a big mistake. I should have avoided giving her an opening. I was looking for an attacking move but she inflicted takedowns on the counter. I believe that was the only time I made an error of judgment during my entire campaign at the Worlds. A final berth was within my reach, and I was confident of beating Yepez. In sports, mistakes happen. You learn from them every time to do better. I really wanted to win gold. I had prepared well for it. It would have been great to be called a world champion. Nonetheless, a medal is a medal, that too at the World championships. Overall, I feel good."Antim plans to take a few weeks off before resuming training under Dahiya. “My next goal is to secure gold at the Asian Games in 2026. There’s still time left for it, but my preparations start now,” she said.Indian wrestlers continue to disappointIndia’s greco-roman wrestlers continued to struggle at the Worlds. Only Suraj Vashishth reached the quarterfinals in the 60kg before losing 1-4 to Serbia’s Georgij Tibilov. None of the other three Indian grapplers made a significant impact. In his debut, Suraj defeated Mexico’s Angel Tellez 3-1 and Moldova’s Victor Ciobanu by the same score in the round-of-16 but was eliminated by Tibilov in the last-eight stage bout.In the 72kg, Ankit Gulia lost his qualification bout by technical superiority to South Korea’s Yeonghun Noh, who later lost his quarters. In the 97kg, Nitesh began with a narrow 3-2 win over local favourite Filip Smetko but lost 0-4 to World No. 1 Iranian Mohammadhadi Saravi in the next. Aman lost his 77kg repechage round by technical superiority to Ukraine’s Ihor Bychkkov.