Antim Panghal named 'Women's Rising Star of the Year' in UWW Awards 2023

Indian women’s wrestler Antim Panghal has been named 'Rising Star of the Year' in the United World Wrestling (UWW) Awards for 2023.

Antim created history by winning India’s first-ever gold medal at the World U20 Wrestling Championships in August 2022. She retained the medal this year too.

The young prodigy has taken the world of wrestling by storm in the past couple of years. She named the Senior World Championships bronze medal to her name in her debut earlier this year.

Antim upset defending champion Parrish in the opening round but fell to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the semifinals. She secured her bronze with a commanding win over Sweden’s Jonna Malmgren, a two-time European champion.

Courtesy of the win, Antim also secured a 2024 Paris Olympic quota place for India.

In 2020, Antim, then just 17, won the gold medal at the junior Asian Championships and followed it up with a silver at the U-23 Asian Championships, defeating opponents much older than her.

In April 2023, Antim won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Astana. Antim picked up a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Following a loss to Fujinami in the quarterfinals, Antim Panghal defeated Mongolia’s Bat-Ochiryn Bolortuyaa, a bronze medallist from Tokyo 2020, to secure a podium finish on her Asian Games debut.