CHENNAI/NAGOYA: The mantra was simple for wrestler Antim Panghal - stay calm and avoid any kind of pressure ahead of her bouts at the ongoing 2026 Asian Games. Her coaches made sure the previous edition bronze medallist remained in the right frame of mind for her upcoming bouts on Saturday.
They also ensured she remained positive by showing her videos of her past wins over rivals she was scheduled to take on in the 53kg weight category competition. It all started on Friday evening and continued for more than two hours. That positive approach bore fruits as the 22-year-old Indian wrestler on Saturday finished with a silver medal.
"We have already lost a couple of medals in the women's wrestling here and Antim was our best hope," Virender Dahiya, women's coach, told this daily from Nagoya, Japan. "We kept the videos of her past bouts ready. She has beaten all three rivals, whom she was scheduled to meet again, in the past and that's what we wanted to remind her," added the coach.
The only issue was her final rival, Moe Kiyooka from Japan, gold medallist of the 2024 World Championships. The 22-year-old Japanese wrestler had beaten Antim by technical superiority in the 2025 Asian Championships. But the coaches tried to find a way out of the tricky situation as they showed Antim a video of Kiyooka's bout against Nishu, another Indian wrestler. "Nishu defeated Kiyooka in the 2025 U23 World Championships by fall. We wanted to tell Antim that if Nishu can win against the Japanese then she can also defeat her. Anyway Antim is the best woman wrestler of the country in the 53kg weight category," said the coach. It might not have worked on Saturday as Kiyooka registered an emphatic 9-1 win over Antim but the podium finish will certainly give the Indian wrestler a lot of confidence for the upcoming tournaments.
Earlier, Antim defeated Shugyla Omirbek of Kazakhstan 9-0 in the qualification round to reach the quarterfinals. Antim had beaten the Kazakh wrestler in the 2022 U20 Asian Championships. Her next rival was Sakibjamal Esbosynova from Uzbekistan. In their last meeting two years ago, the Indian defeated Esbosynova in the 2nd RS Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial.
Antim won that bout by fall to sail into the semifinal, where she faced Jin Zhang of China. The Chinese was also beaten 7-5 by Antim in the 2026 Polyak Imre, Varga Janos & Kozma Istvan Memorial tournament. The Haryana wrestler maintained her winning run as she won 6-1 to make it to the summit clash.
Apart from coaches, Sanjay Kumar Singh, president of the Wrestling Federation of India, also paid a visit and motivated Antim. "The WFI president met us and cheered up Antim," informed the coach.
