Good newsManisha Bhanwala Turns 6-0 Deficit Into India’s First Women’s Wrestling World Title
Six points down in the 59kg final in Astana, Manisha Bhanwala scored eight unanswered to beat Abigail Nette of the United States 8-6 and become India’s first women’s wrestling world champion, 16 years after Sushil Kumar’s men’s gold.
This story runs on the good side only. The biggest stories of the day are told on both sides.
Before the first break of the 59kg final at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana on Friday, Manisha Bhanwala trailed Abigail Nette of the United States 6-0. She then scored eight points without reply and won 8-6. The 29-year-old is India’s first women’s world wrestling champion, and only the country’s second world champion in any wrestling style, United World Wrestling (UWW) reported on 30 October.
The wait she ended was 16 years long. Sushil Kumar won India’s only previous senior world title, the men’s 66kg freestyle gold, in 2010, and no Indian woman had won one at all. Manisha, who competes under her first name on UWW’s results, made her first senior Indian team in 2022 and was Asian champion in 2025. This was her fourth senior World Championships, and she had never before reached the podium, according to a Reuters report carried by Dubai Eye.
“Can’t feel anything. I’ve been waiting for a long time for this moment,” she told UWW after the final. She said she had written down since 2022 that she would be world champion.
How the final turned
Nette threw Manisha for four points in the first period. India challenged the call and lost, which added a point, and a caution against Manisha made it 6-0. A single stepout before the break got India on the board at 6-1.
The second period belonged to the Indian. A takedown, plus a point from a failed American challenge, cut the gap to 6-4. A gut-wrench, the move she calls her favourite, levelled the bout at 6-6, with Nette still ahead on criteria because her four-point throw was the higher-value move. Then Manisha finished what UWW describes as a pressure takedown for 8-6, and held the lead to the whistle.
| Sequence | Scorer | Points | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four-point throw | Nette | 4 | 0-4 |
| Lost Indian challenge | Nette | 1 | 0-5 |
| Caution against Manisha | Nette | 1 | 0-6 |
| Stepout (before the break) | Manisha | 1 | 1-6 |
| Takedown | Manisha | 2 | 3-6 |
| Lost American challenge | Manisha | 1 | 4-6 |
| Gut-wrench | Manisha | 2 | 6-6 (Nette leads on criteria) |
| Takedown | Manisha | 2 | 8-6 |
Table: GoodBad. Scoring sequence as reported by United World Wrestling, 30 October 2026.
The route to the final was less dramatic but just as clean. Manisha won her quarter-final 6-0 against Bolortuya Khurelkhuu of Mongolia with two stepouts and two takedowns, per UWW’s live blog, then beat the home wrestler Altyn Shagayeva of Kazakhstan in the semi-final. Khurelkhuu went on to take one of the two bronze medals in an 18-wrestler field. The other went to Mariia Vynnyk of Ukraine, the 2025 silver medallist.
The week India had
Two days earlier, India had already come within a point or a pin of the same prize twice, UWW reported. Neelam, at 50kg, lost her final to Japan’s Yui Susaki by fall in 2 minutes 15 seconds, Susaki’s fifth world title. Kajal, aged 18, led the 76kg final on criteria twice before Anastasiya Alpyeyeva of Ukraine scored a takedown and exposure in the last 20 seconds to win 8-6. Before this week, only one Indian woman, Anshu in 2021, had ever reached a senior world final.
Tanu Sharma added a bronze at 72kg, won against Precious Bell of the United States. India therefore leaves Astana with four medals, one gold, two silver, and one bronze, all in women’s freestyle, according to Reuters. The team title went to the United States on 137 points, two ahead of Japan on 135, with China third on 121. It was the first American women’s team title since 1999, UWW said.
Why there is no other side
We looked for the catch and did not find one in the sources. The field was full, with 18 entries and the returning silver medallist in the bracket, the result needs no ratification, and no source raises an injury, a protest, or an eligibility question. The one qualification is structural: 59kg is not an Olympic weight class, so the title does not by itself put Manisha on the road to Los Angeles 2028. She has already said what she plans to do about that.
Next stop, Las Vegas
Manisha told UWW she will move down to the Olympic 57kg category and aim to defend her world title in Las Vegas next year. She said she thinks that “next time Indian girls won’t be scared when they get to the final”, and that she wants more Indian wrestlers to win gold now the barrier is down. Three Indian women reached finals at the Barys Arena in one week, after one in the previous history of the event. The next test of whether that changes anything comes at 57kg, in about twelve months.
