Meet Manisha Bhanwala, the Dangal girl who made history at Worlds

When Manisha Bhanwala, a feisty 29-year-old wrestler from Haryana, became the first Indian woman to win gold at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday, she achieved a feat that had eluded several celebrated names in Indian wrestling. From Bajrang Punia to Vinesh Phogat, Indian wrestlers have secured podium finishes, but the only gold medal in the senior World Championships had previously been won by double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar in 2010.

It was a remarkable display of character from the Haryana wrestler, who fought back from a 6-0 deficit to beat American wrestler Abigail Nette 8-6 in the women's 59kg final. The weight category, incidentally, is a non-Olympic event. Nevertheless, the victory marks a significant milestone for Indian wrestling, one that Manisha — who has competed across different weight categories — will hope to build on.

Manisha's triumph capped an impressive campaign by the Indian women wrestlers in Astana — the 'Dangal girls', to borrow a phrase from the Aamir Khan-starrer. Two other grapplers, Neelam Sirohi (50kg) and Kajal Dhochak (76kg), also reached the finals in Olympic weight categories but had to settle for silver medals.

Incidentally, Anshu Malik was the only other Indian woman to reach a World Championships final, winning silver in the 57kg category in 2021. Vinesh Phogat, meanwhile, has won two bronze medals, as has Antim Panghal. Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia also had to settle for silver at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest.

Manisha's gold marked a significant turnaround for the Indian women's wrestling team following a disappointing campaign at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, where the wrestlers fell short of expectations, with Antim Panghal being the only medal winner, claiming silver in the 53kg category.

Manisha, incidentally, had competed in the 57kg category, an Olympic weight class, at the Asian Games but lost to Japan's Akari Fujinami in the quarterfinals. She subsequently moved to the 59kg category for the World Championships, a decision that paid rich dividends.

Hailing from Jind in Haryana, Manisha comes from a farming family with a keen interest in sports. Her brother, Rinku, is a kabaddi player, while her sister-in-law, Mamta Sihag, is also a wrestler.

Speaking to PTI, Rinku said: ‘’We all played sports in the family. She used to watch me play kabaddi in the village and that inspired her. We then decided that she should take up an individual sport rather than a team game. She was physically strong and mental toughness was always her biggest strength.’’

However, tragedy struck the family as just on the eve of the Indian team’s departure for Asian Championship in Mongolia last year, Manisha lost her father due to a cardiac arrest. ‘’She was preparing to leave, but our father passed away that very morning. He had attended a jagran and died in his sleep. She was so attached to all of us that she did not want to go.

‘’We had to tell her that all the efforts our father had made to make her a wrestling champion would go to waste if she gave up. We somehow convinced her to board the flight to Mongolia,’’ Rinku recalled. Manisha eventually competed at the tournament and returned with a bronze medal - marking the beginning of a journey that would take her to the top of the wrestling world. She went on to win three more Asian medals, including a gold in 2025.

Looking ahead, Manisha will be targeting a move to 57 kg, the Olympic kg class, with an eye to emulate Sakshi Malik in Los Angeles 2028. She had in the past switched between weight categories several times: 62kg, 65kg and 57kg before winning the biggest prize of her career in the non-Olympic 59kg category.

Having won medals at the cadet, continental and senior world levels and spent more than nine years in competitive wrestling, Manisha's moment has finally arrived!