Manisha Bhanwala wrote her name in the hall of fame of Indian sports on Friday (October 30) by winning the gold medal in the 2026 Wrestling World Championship
in the Women's 59 KG Category. The 29-year-old defeated Pan American Champion Abigail Nette 8-6 after coming back from 6-0 down to seal the status of world champion at the Barys Arena in Kazakhstan's Astana. Manisha is the first-ever Indian women's wrestler to achieve the status of world champion. Previously, three Indian female wrestlers had won silver, two of whom have come in this edition. Meanwhile, the star wrestler is only the second Indian to win a gold medal in the competition's rich history, after Sushil Kumar in 2010. The two-time Olympic medalist remains the only male Indian wrestling world champion to date.
Who Is Manisha Bhanwala?
Aged 29, Bhanwala is a veteran and has been around for a decade. She hails from Haryana, with Siwaha village in Jind district her native. She trains at the Chhotu Ram Akhada in Rohtak and is currently also supported by the Inspire Institute of Sports.
Her journey in wrestling started in 2013, with her father Suresh playing a key role. Incredibly, the purpose behind her taking up the sport was only recreational, as a way to improve her fitness. Later, her elder brother Rinku, who is a former Kabaddi player, enrolled her in the Sir Chotu Ram Academy.
She made a strong impression in professional sports in 2016 with a gold medal at the 2016 Cadet World Championships and South Asian Games. Later, she won the bronze in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship and a silver in the same event the following year.
This landed her a job in the paramilitary, and she also won a gold medal in the 2018 World Military Games. However, she left the job after a discussion with her father during the COVID-19 pandemic due to not getting adequate training opportunities.
It was in 2022 that Manisha made a mark by beating 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics bronze medalist Sakshi Malik thrice. One of them came in the National Games in 2022, where she won the gold medal. A year later, she defended her title.
Since then, she has managed to impress at the continental level with three bronze medals (2022, 2023, and 2024) and a gold in 2025.
The first medal in 2022 came after heartbreak as she was informed on her transit that her father passed away due to a heart attack, just hours after dropping her at the New Delhi airport.
However, she suffered heartbreak at the 2026 Asian Games earlier this year as she failed to secure a place on the podium in Nagoya after a quarter-final defeat to Akari Fujinami of Japan, the Paris Olympic gold medalist.
Interestingly, she competed at the Asian Games in the Women's 57 KG category but shifted to 59 kg at the World Championship. Previously, her Asian Championship medals have come in the 62 and 65 KG categories.
