After years of setbacks, a fifth-place finish and the loss of her father, Manisha Bhanwala came back from 0-6 to win India’s first women’s wrestling World Championships gold.

For years, Manisha Bhanwala had been close enough to see the podium, but never close enough to stand on top of it. She had competed at three senior World Championships without winning a medal, with a fifth-place finish at the 2024 edition becoming one of the disappointments she carried into her next attempt.

There was also a loss that changed what wrestling meant to her. In 2022, hours before Manisha was scheduled to leave for Mongolia for the Asian Championships, her father Suresh Bhanwala died after a cardiac arrest. He was the person who had encouraged her to take up wrestling and supported her early journey in the sport. Manisha eventually travelled to the championships and won a bronze medal, but her father's absence became part of every tournament that followed.

On October 30, 2026, she finally reached the moment she had spent years chasing.

The Final in Astana

At the World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, Manisha entered the women's 59kg final against USA's Abigail Nette. The opening phase could hardly have gone worse for the Indian wrestler. Nette built a 6-0 lead, leaving Manisha with a large deficit and limited time to respond.

But the match changed in the second half.

Manisha began closing the gap with a step-out and then a takedown. Another successful sequence brought her level at 6-6. With the bout moving towards its final moments, she found one more scoring opportunity and completed the decisive takedown to take an 8-6 lead. She defended that advantage until the final whistle and became the first Indian woman to win a senior World Wrestling Championships gold medal.

The victory also made her only the second Indian wrestler to win a senior World Championships title, after Sushil Kumar's men's 66kg gold in 2010.

A World Title After Years of Waiting

The gold did not arrive at the end of a straightforward rise. Manisha had moved through different weight categories during her career, including 62kg, 65kg and 57kg, before competing in the non-Olympic 59kg category in Astana. She had already won Asian Championships gold at 62kg in 2025, but the World Championships title remained out of reach.

The 2024 World Championships had ended with her in fifth place. Earlier World Championship appearances had also ended without a medal. Each result left her with another reason to return, rather than the title she wanted.

Her father's death made the journey more personal. In the years after 2022, Manisha continued to speak about the role he played in her career. After winning in Astana, she celebrated with a white T-shirt carrying his photograph, bringing his memory into the biggest victory of her career.

A Historic Championship for Indian Women

Manisha's gold also completed India's strongest-ever medal performance in women's wrestling at the senior World Championships. India finished the 2026 edition with four women's medals: Manisha's gold, silver medals for Neelam Sirohi at 50kg and Kajal Dhochak at 76kg, and a bronze for Tanu Sharma at 72kg.

It was also the first time three Indian women had reached World Championships gold-medal bouts at the same edition. Neelam and Kajal had finished with silver before Manisha became the one to complete the final step.

For Indian women's wrestling, the result represents a milestone that had remained beyond reach despite several near-misses at the global level.

For Manisha, however, the meaning of the medal is more personal.

She had already experienced fifth place. She had already experienced losing at the biggest tournaments. She had already experienced the sudden loss of the person who first pushed her towards wrestling.

In Astana, she faced another difficult moment when the scoreboard read 0-6.

This time, she fought back.

And when the final score read 8-6, Manisha Bhanwala was no longer the wrestler who had come close to a world medal. She was India's first woman wrestling world champion.

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